Location: MECA office, 1101 8th St, Berkeley, CA 94710
Join us Sunday, July 21 for our Third Annual Ride for Palestine, a day of solidarity along the 14-mile scenic San Francisco Bay. The ride is designed to be enjoyable for cyclists of all skill levels and the post-Ride event, Gather for Gaza will include delicious Palestinian food, music, dancing, and more.
All funds raised this year will support MECA’s emergency work in Gaza–where the situation is dire and your support is more important than ever. Thanks to the efforts of our community, MECA’s 2022 and 2023 Rides for Palestine were a huge success, together raising more than $125,000 in support of our ongoing work in Palestine.
Help us reach our 2024 Ride for Palestine goal of $150,000 by registering today:
With your support, we can deliver food and other necessities and send a powerful message of solidarity to Gaza.
Ride for Palestinian children. Ride for solidarity. Ride for Gaza.
If you're not in the Bay Area or are not available July 21 but would like to participate you can register at a discounted rate as a Virtual Participant and ride, walk, swim, or even bake cookies for Palestine–you can decide what your fundraising activity looks like. Check out our Ride from Anywhere page to learn more.
Ride from anywhere:
https://rideforpalestine.com/ride-from-anywhere/?emci=ecd65d8d-9fe8-ee11-aaf0-002248223794&emdi=ea000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001&ceid=2453624
Get involved in this year’s event at RideforPalestine.com and feel free to reach out to the MECA team by emailing us at info@rideforpalestine.com.
#GatherforGaza #RideforPalestine #MECAforPeace
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
‘Operation al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 248:
Casualties
Source: mondoweiss.net
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
Beneath The Mountain: An Anti-Prison Reader (City Lights, 2024) is a collection of revolutionary essays, written by those who have been detained inside prison walls. Composed by the most structurally dispossessed people on earth, the prisoner class, these words illuminate the steps towards freedom.
Beneath the Mountain documents the struggle — beginning with slavery, genocide, and colonization up to our present day — and imagines a collective, anti-carceral future. These essays were handwritten first on scraps of paper, magazine covers, envelopes, toilet paper, or pages of bibles, scratched down with contraband pencils or the stubby cartridge of a ball-point pen; kites, careworn, copied and shared across tiers and now preserved in this collection for this and future generations. If they were dropped in the prison-controlled mail they were cloaked in prayers, navigating censorship and dustbins. They were very often smuggled out. These words mark resistance, fierce clarity, and speak to the hope of building the world we all deserve to live in.
"Beneath the Mountain reminds us that ancestors and rebels have resisted conquest and enslavement, building marronage against colonialism and genocide."
—Joy James, author of New Bones Abolition: Captive Maternal Agency
Who stands beneath the mountain but prisoners of war? Mumia Abu-Jamal and Jennifer Black have assembled a book of fire, each voice a flame in captivity...Whether writing from a place of fugivity, the prison camp, the city jail, the modern gulag or death row, these are our revolutionary thinkers, our critics and dreamers, our people. The people who move mountains. —Robin D.G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination
Filled with insight and energy, this extraordinary book gifts us the opportunity to encounter people’s understanding of the fight for freedom from the inside out. —Ruth Wilson Gilmore, author of Golden Gulag and Abolition Geography
These are the words each writer dreamed as they sought freedom and they need to be studied by people inside and read in every control unit/hole in every prison in America. We can send this book for you to anyone who you know who is currently living, struggling, and fighting
Who better to tell these stories than those who have lived them? Don’t be surprised with what you find within these pages: hope, solidarity, full faith towards the future, and most importantly, love.
Excerpt from the book:
"Revolutionary love speaks to the ways we protect, respect, and empower each other while standing up to state terror. Its presence is affirmed through these texts as a necessary component to help chase away fear and to encourage the solidarity and unity essential for organizing in dangerous times and places. Its absence portends tragedy. Revolutionary love does not stop the state from wanting to kill us, nor is it effective without strategy and tactics, but it is the might that fuels us to stand shoulder to shoulder with others regardless. Perhaps it can move mountains." —Jennifer Black & Mumia Abu-Jamal from the introduction to Beneath The Mountain: An Anti Prison Reader
Get the book at:
https://www.prisonradiostore.com/shop-2/beneath-the-mountain-an-anti-prison-reader-edited-by-mumia-abu-jamal-jennifer-black-city-lights-2024
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
Boris Kagarlitsky is in Prison!
On February 13, the court overturned the previous decision on release and sent Boris Kagarlitsky to prison for five years.
Petition in Support of Boris Kagarlitsky
We, the undersigned, were deeply shocked to learn that on February 13 the leading Russian socialist intellectual and antiwar activist Dr. Boris Kagarlitsky (65) was sentenced to five years in prison.
Dr. Kagarlitsky was arrested on the absurd charge of 'justifying terrorism' in July last year. After a global campaign reflecting his worldwide reputation as a writer and critic of capitalism and imperialism, his trial ended on December 12 with a guilty verdict and a fine of 609,000 roubles.
The prosecution then appealed against the fine as 'unjust due to its excessive leniency' and claimed falsely that Dr. Kagarlitsky was unable to pay the fine and had failed to cooperate with the court. In fact, he had paid the fine in full and provided the court with everything it requested.
On February 13 a military court of appeal sent him to prison for five years and banned him from running a website for two years after his release.
The reversal of the original court decision is a deliberate insult to the many thousands of activists, academics, and artists around the world who respect Dr. Kagarlitsky and took part in the global campaign for his release. The section of Russian law used against Dr. Kagarlitsky effectively prohibits free expression. The decision to replace the fine with imprisonment was made under a completely trumped-up pretext. Undoubtedly, the court's action represents an attempt to silence criticism in the Russian Federation of the government's war in Ukraine, which is turning the country into a prison.
The sham trial of Dr. Kagarlitsky is the latest in a wave of brutal repression against the left-wing movements in Russia. Organizations that have consistently criticized imperialism, Western and otherwise, are now under direct attack, many of them banned. Dozens of activists are already serving long terms simply because they disagree with the policies of the Russian government and have the courage to speak up. Many of them are tortured and subjected to life-threatening conditions in Russian penal colonies, deprived of basic medical care. Left-wing politicians are forced to flee Russia, facing criminal charges. International trade unions such as IndustriALL and the International Transport Federation are banned and any contact with them will result in long prison sentences.
There is a clear reason for this crackdown on the Russian left. The heavy toll of the war gives rise to growing discontent among the mass of working people. The poor pay for this massacre with their lives and wellbeing, and opposition to war is consistently highest among the poorest. The left has the message and resolve to expose the connection between imperialist war and human suffering.
Dr. Kagarlitsky has responded to the court's outrageous decision with calm and dignity: “We just need to live a little longer and survive this dark period for our country,” he said. Russia is nearing a period of radical change and upheaval, and freedom for Dr. Kagarlitsky and other activists is a condition for these changes to take a progressive course.
We demand that Boris Kagarlitsky and all other antiwar prisoners be released immediately and unconditionally.
We also call on the authorities of the Russian Federation to reverse their growing repression of dissent and respect their citizens' freedom of speech and right to protest.
Sign to Demand the Release of Boris Kagarlitsky
https://freeboris.info
The petition is also available on Change.org
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*Major Announcement*
Claudia De la Cruz wins
Peace and Freedom Party primary in California!
We have an exciting announcement. The votes are still being counted in California, but the Claudia-Karina “Vote Socialist” campaign has achieved a clear and irreversible lead in the Peace and Freedom Party primary. Based on the current count, Claudia has 46% of the vote compared to 40% for Cornel West. A significant majority of PFP’s newly elected Central Committee, which will formally choose the nominee at its August convention, have also pledged their support to the Claudia-Karina campaign.
We are excited to campaign in California now and expect Claudia De la Cruz to be the candidate on the ballot of the Peace and Freedom Party in November.
We achieved another big accomplishment this week - we’re officially on the ballot in Hawai’i! This comes after also petitioning to successfully gain ballot access in Utah. We are already petitioning in many other states. Each of these achievements is powered by the tremendous effort of our volunteers and grassroots organizers across the country. When we’re organized, people power can move mountains!
We need your help to keep the momentum going. Building a campaign like this takes time, energy, and money. We know that our class enemies — the billionaires, bankers, and CEO’s — put huge sums toward loyal politicians and other henchmen who defend their interests. They will use all the money and power at their disposal to stop movements like ours. As an independent, socialist party, our campaign is relying on contributions from the working class and people like you.
We call on each and every one of our supporters to set up a monthly or one-time donation to support this campaign to help it keep growing and reaching more people. A new socialist movement, independent of the Democrats and Republicans, is being built but it will only happen when we all pitch in.
The Claudia-Karina campaign calls to end all U.S. aid to Israel. End this government’s endless wars. We want jobs for all, with union representation and wages that let us live with dignity. Housing, healthcare, and education for all - without the lifelong debt. End the ruthless attacks on women, Black people, immigrants, and LGBTQ people. These are just some of the demands that are resonating across the country. Help us take the next step:
Volunteer: https://votesocialist2024.com/volunteer
Donate: https://votesocialist2024.com/donate
See you in the streets,
Claudia & Karina
Don't Forget! Join our telegram channel for regular updates: https://t.me/+KtYBAKgX51JhNjMx
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
Free Julian Assange
Immediate Repeated Action Needed to Free Assange
Please call your Congressional Representatives, the White House, and the DOJ. Calls are tallied—they do count. We are to believe we are represented in this country. This is a political case, so our efforts can change things politically as well. Please take this action as often as you can:
Find your representatives:
https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member
Leave each of your representatives a message individually to:
· Drop the charges against Julian Assange
· Speak out publicly against the indictment and
· Sign on to Rashida Tlaib's letter to the DOJ to drop the charges:
202-224-3121—Capitol Main Switchboard
Leave a message on the White House comment line to
Demand Julian Assange be pardoned:
202-456-1111
Tuesday–Thursday, 11:00 A.M.–3:00 P.M. EST
Call the DOJ and demand they drop the charges against Julian Assange:
202-353-1555—DOJ Comment Line
202-514-2000 Main Switchboard
Sign the petition:
https://dontextraditeassange.com/petition/
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
Mumia Abu-Jamal is Innocent!
FREE HIM NOW!
Write to Mumia at:
Smart Communications/PADOC
Mumia Abu-Jamal #AM-8335
SCI Mahanoy
P.O. Box 33028
St. Petersburg, FL 33733
Join the Fight for Mumia's Life
Since September, Mumia Abu-Jamal's health has been declining at a concerning rate. He has lost weight, is anemic, has high blood pressure and an extreme flair up of his psoriasis, and his hair has fallen out. In April 2021 Mumia underwent open heart surgery. Since then, he has been denied cardiac rehabilitation care including a healthy diet and exercise.
Donate to Mumia Abu-Jamal's Emergency Legal and Medical Defense Fund, Official 2024
Mumia has instructed PrisonRadio to set up this fund. Gifts donated here are designated for the Mumia Abu-Jamal Medical and Legal Defense Fund. If you are writing a check or making a donation in another way, note this in the memo line.
Send to:
Mumia Medical and Legal Fund c/o Prison Radio
P.O. Box 411074, San Francisco, CA 94103
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
.jpg)
Write to:
Leonard Peltier 89637-132
USP Coleman 1
P.O. Box 1033
Coleman, FL 33521
Note: Letters, address and return address must be in writing—no stickers—and on plain white paper.
Sign our petition urging President Biden to grant clemency to Leonard Peltier:
https://www.freeleonardpeltier.com/petition
Email: contact@whoisleonardpeltier.info
Address: 116 W. Osborne Ave. Tampa, Florida 33603
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
Updates From Kevin Cooper
A Never-ending Constitutional Violation
A summary of the current status of Kevin Cooper’s case by the Kevin Cooper Defense Committee
On October 26, 2023, the law firm of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, LLP wrote a rebuttal in response to the Special Counsel's January 13, 2023 report upholding the conviction of their client Kevin Cooper. A focus of the rebuttal was that all law enforcement files were not turned over to the Special Counsel during their investigation, despite a request for them to the San Bernardino County District Attorney's office.
On October 29, 2023, Law Professors Lara Bazelon and Charlie Nelson Keever, who run the six member panel that reviews wrongful convictions for the San Francisco County District Attorney's office, published an OpEd in the San Francisco Chronicle calling the "Innocence Investigation” done by the Special Counsel in the Cooper case a “Sham Investigation” largely because Cooper has unsuccessfully fought for years to obtain the police and prosecutor files in his case. This is a Brady claim, named for the U.S. Supreme court’s 1963 case establishing the Constitutional rule that defendants are entitled to any information in police and prosecutor's possession that could weaken the state's case or point to innocence. Brady violations are a leading cause of wrongful convictions. The Special Counsel's report faults Cooper for not offering up evidence of his own despite the fact that the best evidence to prove or disprove Brady violations or other misconduct claims are in those files that the San Bernardino County District Attorney's office will not turn over to the Special Counsel or to Cooper's attorneys.
On December 14, 2023, the president of the American Bar Association (ABA), Mary Smith, sent Governor Gavin Newsom a three page letter on behalf of the ABA stating in part that Mr.Cooper's counsel objected to the state's failure to provide Special Counsel all documents in their possession relating to Mr.Cooper's conviction, and that concerns about missing information are not new. For nearly 40 years Mr.Cooper's attorneys have sought this same information from the state.
On December 19, 2023, Bob Egelko, a journalist for the San Francisco Chronicle wrote an article about the ABA letter to the Governor that the prosecutors apparently withheld evidence from the Governor's legal team in the Cooper case.
These are just a few recent examples concerning the ongoing failure of the San Bernardino County District Attorney to turn over to Cooper's attorney's the files that have been requested, even though under the law and especially the U.S. Constitution, the District Attorney of San Bernardino county is required to turn over to the defendant any and all material and or exculpatory evidence that they have in their files. Apparently, they must have something in their files because they refuse to turn them over to anyone.
The last time Cooper's attorney's received files from the state, in 2004, it wasn't from the D.A. but a Deputy Attorney General named Holly Wilkens in Judge Huff's courtroom. Cooper's attorneys discovered a never before revealed police report showing that a shirt was discovered that had blood on it and was connected to the murders for which Cooper was convicted, and that the shirt had disappeared. It had never been tested for blood. It was never turned over to Cooper's trial attorney, and no one knows where it is or what happened to it. Cooper's attorneys located the woman who found that shirt on the side of the road and reported it to the Sheriff's Department. She was called to Judge Huff's court to testify about finding and reporting that shirt to law enforcement. That shirt was the second shirt found that had blood on it that was not the victims’ blood. This was in 2004, 19 years after Cooper's conviction.
It appears that this ongoing constitutional violation that everyone—from the Special Counsel to the Governor's legal team to the Governor himself—seems to know about, but won't do anything about, is acceptable in order to uphold Cooper's conviction.
But this type of thing is supposed to be unacceptable in the United States of America where the Constitution is supposed to stand for something other than a piece of paper with writing on it. How can a Governor, his legal team, people who support and believe in him ignore a United States citizen’s Constitutional Rights being violated for 40 years in order to uphold a conviction?
This silence is betrayal of the Constitution. This permission and complicity by the Governor and his team is against everything that he and they claim to stand for as progressive politicians. They have accepted the Special Counsel's report even though the Special Counsel did not receive the files from the district attorney that may not only prove that Cooper is innocent, but that he was indeed framed by the Sheriff’s Department; and that evidence was purposely destroyed and tampered with, that certain witnesses were tampered with, or ignored if they had information that would have helped Cooper at trial, that evidence that the missing shirt was withheld from Cooper's trial attorney, and so much more.
Is the Governor going to get away with turning a blind eye to this injustice under his watch?
Are progressive people going to stay silent and turn their eyes blind in order to hopefully get him to end the death penalty for some while using Cooper as a sacrificial lamb?
An immediate act of solidarity we can all do right now is to write to Kevin and assure him of our continuing support in his fight for justice. Here’s his address:
Kevin Cooper #C65304
Cell 107, Unit E1C
California Health Care Facility, Stockton (CHCF)
P.O. Box 213040
Stockton, CA 95213
www.freekevincooper.org
Call California Governor Newsom:
1-(916) 445-2841
Press 1 for English or 2 for Spanish,
press 6 to speak with a representative and
wait for someone to answer
(Monday-Friday, 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. PST—12:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M. EST)
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
The writers' organization PEN America is circulating this petition on behalf of Jason Renard Walker, a Texas prisoner whose life is being threatened because of his exposés of the Texas prison system.
See his book, Reports from within the Belly of the Beast; available on Amazon at:
https://www.amazon.com/Reports-Within-Belly-Beast-Department-ebook/dp/B084656JDZ/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8
Petition: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/protect-whistleblowers-in-carceral-settings
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
Daniel Hale UPDATE:
In February Drone Whistleblower Daniel Hale was transferred from the oppressive maximum-security prison in Marion, Illinois to house confinement. We celebrate his release from Marion. He is laying low right now, recovering from nearly 3 years in prison. Thank goodness he is now being held under much more humane conditions and expected to complete his sentence in July of this year. www.StandWithDaniel Hale.org
More Info about Daniel:
“Drone Whistleblower Subjected To Harsh Confinement Finally Released From Prison”
https://thedissenter.org/drone-whistleblower-cmu-finally-released-from-prison/
“I was punished under the Espionage Act. Why wasn’t Joe Biden?” by Daniel Hale
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
Resources for Resisting Federal Repression
https://www.nlg.org/federalrepressionresources/
Since June of 2020, activists have been subjected to an increasingly aggressive crackdown on protests by federal law enforcement. The federal response to the movement for Black Lives has included federal criminal charges for activists, door knocks by federal law enforcement agents, and increased use of federal troops to violently police protests.
The NLG National Office is releasing this resource page for activists who are resisting federal repression. It includes a link to our emergency hotline numbers, as well as our library of Know-Your-Rights materials, our recent federal repression webinar, and a list of some of our recommended resources for activists. We will continue to update this page.
Please visit the NLG Mass Defense Program page for general protest-related legal support hotlines run by NLG chapters.
Emergency Hotlines
If you are contacted by federal law enforcement, you should exercise all of your rights. It is always advisable to speak to an attorney before responding to federal authorities.
State and Local Hotlines
If you have been contacted by the FBI or other federal law enforcement, in one of the following areas, you may be able to get help or information from one of these local NLG hotlines for:
Portland, Oregon: (833) 680-1312
San Francisco, California: (415) 285-1041 or fbi_hotline@nlgsf.org
Seattle, Washington: (206) 658-7963
National Hotline
If you are located in an area with no hotline, you can call the following number:
National NLG Federal Defense Hotline: (212) 679-2811
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
1) The last functioning hospitals in Gaza may soon be out of service, the health ministry warns.
By Raja Abdulrahim, June 8, 2024
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/06/08/world/israel-gaza-war-hamas
A wounded girl at a hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza, on Friday. Credit...Bashar Taleb/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
The few overwhelmed hospitals still functioning across the Gaza Strip could be completely out of service if diesel generators needed to keep lights on and to run lifesaving medical equipment are not replaced or maintained soon, the Gaza Health Ministry warned on Saturday.
The ministry said it expected a number of generators at the hospitals to fail soon because Israel, as part of its siege of the territory, was preventing the entry of necessary spare parts.
“This means certain death for the sick and injured and the complete end of the health service,” the ministry said in a statement.
One of the main generators at Al-Aqsa Hospital in the central Gazan city of Deir al Balah recently broke down, leaving the medical facility with only one still functioning.
That hospital has been overwhelmed with victims of Israeli airstrikes as central Gaza has come under sustained bombardment in recent days, killing dozens of civilians and wounding many more, according to the ministry and Palestinian news media.
On Saturday, large numbers of wounded — including many children — were taken to Al-Aqsa Hospital, which is not only operating with a sole generator but is also facing a severe shortage of medicine and equipment, a health ministry spokesman said.
Gaza’s hospitals have been hit by Israeli strikes repeatedly since the beginning of the war, now in its ninth month, leaving many no longer functioning. The World Health Organization said this week that, since the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, there have been 464 Israeli attacks on Gaza’s health care system, affecting 101 health facilities.
Israel has long accused Hamas of using hospitals in Gaza for military purposes, but it has struggled to prove its early claim that the militant group maintained a command and control center beneath Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Evidence provided by he Israeli miliary and examined by The New York Times suggests that Hamas has used the hospital for cover, stored weapons inside it and maintained a tunnel beneath the complex that was supplied with water, power and air-conditioning.
The Israeli military has not yet presented similar evidence about other health care centers it has attacked.
Hamas and hospital administrators have denied the Israeli accusations.
With Israel also blocking most of Gaza’s supply of electricity, hospitals have had to rely almost entirely on generators to continue treating patients, many of them the victims of Israel’s military assault on the territory.
Even before the war, Israel and Egypt, which also shares a border with Gaza, had imposed a crippling land, air and sea blockade on the territory for many years.
Once the war began, Israel said it was imposing a “complete siege” on Gaza, creating a dire shortage of food, water and medicines. Israel has also blocked items such as sanitation equipment.
Israel’s civil administration, an arm of its military administration in Gaza and the West Bank, did not respond to questions about the hospital generators. It has previously said that the restriction on goods entering Gaza was meant to prevent the entry of items that could be used for military purposes.
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
2) A Small American Bomb Killing Palestinians by the Dozen in Gaza
The GBU-39 is increasingly the weapon of choice for the Israeli military and was used in two recent mass-casualty events.
By Lara Jakes, Lara Jakes writes about weapons and military aid to conflict zones, June 8, 2024
Palestinians mourning the dead last month in a Rafah morgue following an Israeli airstrike that killed at least 45 people and wounded hundreds more. Credit...Jehad Alshrafi/Associated Press
An American-made, precision guided bomb that homes in on specific targets and, ideally, limits civilian casualties, was used in airstrikes in Gaza that killed dozens of Palestinians, including women and children.
The weapon, the GBU-39, or small-diameter bomb, was used in an attack at a former United Nations school on Thursday and in a May 26 strike in Rafah. In both cases, the Israeli military defended its actions, saying the strikes were aimed at militants using civilians as human shields. The Gaza health authorities said that civilians had also been killed, and there were videos and pictures of women and children among the dead.
Two weapons experts told The New York Times that Israel has appeared to increase the use of the bombs since the start of this year, compared with the war’s earliest days, when it launched them in only 10 percent of airstrikes against Gaza. As a recent spate of Israeli strikes demonstrates, even a relatively diminutive bomb can inflict severe civilian casualties.
“The thing is, even using a smaller weapon, or using a precision guided weapon, doesn’t mean you don’t kill civilians, and it doesn’t mean that all of your strikes are suddenly lawful,” said Brian Castner, a weapons expert at Amnesty International.
Early in the war, the Israeli military mounted full-scale invasions of Gazan cities with tanks, artillery and 2,000-pound bombs, earning it international condemnation for heavy civilian casualties.
Under prodding from the Biden administration, analysts said, Israel has shifted its fighting strategy toward low-intensity operations and targeted raids, and it is now relying more heavily on the GBU-39. The bomb weighs 250 pounds, including 37 pounds of explosives, and is fired from warplanes.
Ryan Brobst, a military analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said the shift appeared to start in January or February and “likely explains the change in munitions used.”
Last month, an unexploded GBU-39 was found at a school in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, and the distinctive rear tail fin of the same kind of bomb turned up at the scene of a May 13 strike farther south on a family home and school in Nuseirat that killed as many as 30.
And remnants of GBU-39s showed up outside residential homes that were hit by deadly Israeli airstrikes in Rafah in April, at an unidentified location in Gaza in March and in Tal-Al Sultan in January, analysts said.
These examples of Israel’s use of the GBU-39s represent only a fraction of what experts estimate have, overall, been at least tens of thousands of airstrikes with a variety of weapons. But wreckage found in the aftermath of airstrikes and requests to replenish Israel’s stockpiles signal that Israel clearly has stepped up its use of the GBU-39s, several analysts said.
“We’ve been seeing a lot more GBU-39 scrap in the last few months,” Mr. Castner said. “The trend has been from bigger to smaller.” (However, he said, investigators for Amnesty continue to see evidence of large munitions like the Mark-80 series, which weigh up to 2,000 pounds and were launched into densely populated areas early in the war.)
Only the Israeli military has a precise list of how often, and where, it has used GBU-39s since the war began in October, after Hamas militants killed 1,200 Israelis and took 250 hostages, Israel says. Israeli military officials did not answer questions about the weapon in Gaza, but said in a written statement to The New York Times on Thursday that “when the type of target and the operational circumstances allow, the I.D.F. prefers to use lighter munitions.”
The statement went on to say, “The munitions chosen by the I.D.F. are chosen in a way that match the type of munition to the specific target, with the intention of accomplishing the military goal while taking the environment into account and mitigating the harm to the civilian population as much as possible.”
During the first six weeks of the war, Israel routinely dropped 2,000-pound bombs in southern Gaza, where civilians had been told to move for their safety. The strikes reduced apartment buildings to huge craters and killed thousands of people, an investigation by The Times concluded in December.
In November, U.S. officials urged Israel to use smaller bombs to better protect civilians. Just a month earlier, the manufacturer of the GBU-39, Boeing Corp., had expedited delivery of 1,000 of the weapons from a 2021 order that had not yet been completed.
By December, President Biden was warning Israel that it was losing global support in the war because of “the indiscriminate bombing that takes place.”
“We have made it clear to the Israelis, and they’re aware, that the safety of innocent Palestinians is still of great concern,” Mr. Biden said on Dec. 12. “And so the actions they’re taking must be consistent with attempting to do everything possible to prevent innocent Palestinian civilians from being hurt, murdered, killed, lost.”
But even the smaller bombs have caused collateral damage.
The first known use of GBU-39s in the current war was on Oct. 24 in Khan Younis, where two family homes were struck with four of the bombs, one expert said.
In January, Israel struck the top two floors of a five-story residential building in Rafah shortly before 11 p.m. It killed 18 civilians, including four women and 10 children, according to an Amnesty International investigation that concluded that the bomb used in the strike was a GBU-39. It was among examples compiled in April by Amnesty International of potentially unlawful use of American-made weapons in Israel, going back to January 2023.
The State Department concluded in May that Israel had most likely violated humanitarian standards for failing to protect civilians in Gaza but said it had not found specific instances that would justify withholding American military aid.
Current and former U.S. officials said Israel generally does not share information on its use of GBU-39s with Washington, and a State Department system created in August to track civilian deaths by American-made weapons in foreign conflicts has struggled to compile a comprehensive list. One U.S. official said the May 26 airstrike in Rafah was being investigated as part of the new process to determine whether humanitarian laws are violated with the use of Americans arms.
Israel has been deploying the GBU-39s since 2008, using them in Gaza, Syria and Lebanon. The bombs have a range of at least 40 miles and are guided by GPS with coordinates for specific targets set before the weapons are launched. Experts say the GBU-39 is so precise that it can hit specific rooms within buildings.
The United States has delivered at least 9,550 GBU-39s to Israel since 2012, including the 1,000 shipped last fall under the expedited order, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which tracks arms transfers. Mr. Brobst, of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said more had probably been shipped since.
Most strike aircraft can carry eight GBU-39s at a time, and each can be independently guided to various targets. That makes them an efficient weapon for Israel’s army, said N.R. Jenzen-Jones, director of Armament Research Services.
In terms of limiting civilian casualties, however, “it’s not a panacea,” Mr. Jenzen-Jones said. “It may be small relative to other aerial bombs, but the small-diameter bomb still packs a significant punch.”
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
3) Gazans Speak of Devastation After Israeli Hostage Rescue
By Aaron Boxerman and Adam Rasgon reporting from Jerusalem, June 9, 2024
Children searching through the rubble on Sunday in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip. Credit...Eyad Baba/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Doctors and nurses at the last major medical center in central Gaza on Sunday were dealing with an overwhelming number of wounded Palestinians, a day after an Israeli mission to rescue four hostages wrought devastation in the area.
The corridors and hallways of the facility, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al Balah, remained “densely crowded” with new patients, after more than 100 bodies were brought there on Saturday, said Khalil Daqran, a hospital official. Most of the bodies had since been buried or claimed by relatives, he added.
The medical facility — already packed before the Israeli assault in nearby Nuseirat — overflowed, said Abdelkarim al-Harazin, 28, a physician working there.
“The bombing was unimaginably intense,” said Dr. al-Harazin. “The whole hospital became one giant emergency room, even as people came looking for their dead relatives.”
Residents of Nuseirat reported some of the most intense bombardment of the war during the raid. Scores of Palestinians were killed and many more wounded in what the Israeli military called an effort to ensure the safe extraction of the hostages and special forces.
Israeli troops entered two residential buildings in which the hostages were being held, according to Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military spokesman. Admiral Hagari said there were families living in the apartments as well as armed Hamas militants.
The precise death toll remained unclear as health officials sought to gather statistics amid chaotic scenes at hospitals. Gazan health officials reported that more than 200 people were killed in the raid; the Israeli military said it was aware of fewer than 100 casualties, without specifying whether these were dead or wounded or both. Neither side provided a breakdown of combatants versus civilians.
When Al-Aqsa became overwhelmed, many of the wounded were sent to a nearby field hospital operated by the International Medical Corps, according to Javed Ali, an official with the aid group.
Abd Al-Rahman Basem Al-Masri, 25, who lives on the northern edge of Deir al-Balah, said Saturday had been the worst day he’d witnessed since the start of the war, a terrifying experience punctuated by roaring explosions.
Mr. al-Masri said he, his mother and his younger brother had driven back from his uncle’s house and were approaching their home when an airstrike pounded into the ground beside it.
In a video shot by the brother, an expanding cloud of smoke can be seen rising behind the building. “It was horrific,” Mr. al-Masri said. “In that moment, I lost hope that we can continue to live here.”
Another Gazan who lives in Nuseirat, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, said he and more than 10 family members hid inside for hours as heavy airstrikes rattled the neighborhood. He said he had no idea hostages had been held in the area.
After the bombing subsided, he headed out into the devastated market area, where he said he saw the street covered in blood and bodies. Gazans there were cursing not just Israel, but Hamas as well, he said, blaming them for bringing this disaster upon them.
He said neither Israel nor Hamas cared about the destruction as they sought to attack one another. Everyday people, he added, were the victims.
A member of Israel’s war cabinet who threatened to resign will speak, and other news:
· Benny Gantz, a top member of Israel’s wartime leadership, will give a speech on Sunday evening, his office announced in a statement. It did not provide further details. Mr. Gantz had threatened to resign from the wartime cabinet and set a deadline of Saturday for doing so, but postponed a scheduled news conference that night amid news that four hostages had been rescued in Gaza.
· Jake Sullivan, President Biden’s national security adviser, said “it was a fair question” whether the rescue mission in Gaza would impede the effort to get Hamas to agree to a hostage-release and cease-fire plan that President Biden endorsed nine days ago. In a prerecorded interview that will air Sunday on CBS, Mr. Sullivan said he could not “put myself in the head of Hamas terrorists” but that “the whole world is looking to Hamas to say yes.” Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken will visit Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Qatar this week to press for a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas.
· The U.S. military said on Saturday that aid deliveries to Gaza through a temporary pier had resumed. A spokesman for the U.S. Central Command said on Friday that the pier had been repaired, more than a week after it broke apart in high seas.
· Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters in Washington converged around the White House on Saturday, urging President Biden to stop all military aid to Israel and calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza.
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
4) Protest Against Gaza War Draws Thousands to the White House
The demonstration included ringing the White House grounds with a red banner showing the names of the more than 36,000 Palestinians killed during the war.
By Minho Kim, Reporting from Washington, June 8, 2024
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/08/us/politics/white-house-gaza-protest.html
Demonstrators carrying effigy of Biden with blood dripping from his hands at rally outside the gates of the White House in Washington, D.C., on June 8, 2024, in protest of U.S./Israeli genocide in Gaza.
Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters in Washington converged around the White House on Saturday, urging President Biden to stop all military aid to Israel and calling for an immediate cease-fire in Israel’s war in Gaza.
Holding signs calling Mr. Biden a liar, the protesters, mostly clad in red and bearing Palestinian flags, marched around the block of parkland where the White House sits. They spilled across two six-lane boulevards, pushing out tourists, whose faces showed variations of confusion, anger or intrigue. The police presence was heavy, and the U.S. Park Police used pepper spray against a protester at least once.
Mr. Biden was not at the White House, but in France, where he joined President Emmanuel Macron for a state dinner in Paris on Saturday night. But the dissenting voices in the American capital highlighted the challenges he faces domestically as he tries to carve out a narrow position that both supports Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas and calls for a quick cessation of hostilities.
The pro-Palestinian activists outside the White House, who were highly critical of the Biden administration’s response to the war, encouraged a key portion of Mr. Biden’s base — young and nonwhite voters — to reconsider their support for the president ahead of the election this fall.
“There is no world in which I can confidently vote for” Mr. Biden, said Nas Issa, a spokeswoman for the Palestinian Youth Movement, one of the left-leaning groups that organized Saturday’s protest. If Mr. Biden “doesn’t change course and hold Netanyahu and the Israeli government at large to account, under what circumstances would it be acceptable to any person of conscience to vote for him?” she added, referring to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel.
On Saturday afternoon, some protesters created a ring along the mile-long White House perimeter, unspooling consecutive lengths of red paper on which names of the more than 36,000 Palestinians who had been killed during the war were written. The others marched along the perimeter. The format was intended to evoke a red line that, if crossed by the Israeli military in Gaza, would cause Mr. Biden to withhold weapons shipments to Israel.
But Mr. Biden and his administration have said recent strikes that killed dozens of Palestinians in the Gazan city of Rafah did not amount to his red line for Israel. John F. Kirby, a White House spokesman, has said the United States would need to see “a major ground operation” — not airstrikes — to step up its pressure on Israel.
“Biden’s red line was a lie!” read one of the pickets frequently used by the protesters.
The protesters who gathered on Saturday to apply political pressure to Mr. Biden said their biggest demand was the freezing of all weapons shipments to Israel until the war stops. The United States has committed $38 billion in military aid to Israel over 10 years.
“We’re funding it,” said Alexia Samano, a protester who traveled to Washington from Orlando, Fla. “Stop funding this.”
No arrests had been made by late Saturday afternoon, when tens of thousands of protesters finished marching around the perimeter, according to law enforcement. But statues in Lafayette Square, on the northern side of the White House, were vandalized with handwritten scribbles that read “free Palestine.” Two statues of cherubs were also covered in a red, gooey substance that seemed to represent blood.
And many protesters chanted slogans that some Jewish groups have said incite violence against Jews, such as “there is only one solution: intifada, revolution,” as well as “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
But according to one protester, such slogans were not a call for violence against Jewish people, but for a broader resistance against the status quo.
“We don’t have anything against Jews,” said Adam Kattom, a founding member of Peoria for Palestine, who had traveled 12 hours from Peoria, Ill., to join the demonstration.
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
5) The U.N. Security Council will vote on a U.S.-backed cease-fire resolution.
By Mike Ives, June 10, 2024
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/06/10/world/israel-gaza-war-hamas
A Palestinian woman arriving at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on Saturday. Credit...Ramadan Abed/Reuters
The United Nations Security Council was expected to vote on Monday on a resolution brought by the United States calling for a cease-fire in Gaza, as Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken traveled to the Middle East in another push for a pause in fighting.
The U.S.-led proposal “would bring about a full and immediate cease-fire with the release of hostages,” Nate Evans, a spokesman for the U.S. mission to the United Nations, said in a statement on Sunday. President Biden last month endorsed the proposal, which he said had been offered by Israel, “and the Security Council has an opportunity to speak with one voice and call on Hamas to do the same,” Mr. Evans added.
A vote was scheduled for 3 p.m. Eastern. Even if the resolution passes, there was no indication that it would persuade Israel or Hamas to move forward with the cease-fire proposal.
The three-phase plan would begin with an immediate, temporary cease-fire and work toward a permanent end to the war and the reconstruction of Gaza. Mr. Biden said Israel had put forward the plan, and Hamas has signaled it is open to the terms he laid out, but neither side has said definitively that it would accept or reject the plan.
One major sticking point is whether a deal would allow Hamas to remain in control of Gaza — a scenario that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has described as a red line.
Another issue concerns the precise timing and logistics of a cease-fire. Mr. Netanyahu has said that Israel will fight until Hamas’s governing and military capabilities are destroyed. But Hamas has made any progress on a hostage deal conditional on an Israeli commitment for a permanent cease-fire and the full withdrawal of its troops from Gaza.
On Sunday, a new development in Israel’s domestic politics — the departure of a centrist party from Mr. Netanyahu’s emergency wartime cabinet — seemed likely to complicate the cease-fire negotiations.
The centrist party’s leader, Benny Gantz, has boosted the international credibility of Mr. Netanyahu’s government. Mr. Gantz has called for a cease-fire deal and pushed for an administrative body — backed by Americans, Europeans, Palestinians and other Arabs — to oversee civilian affairs in postwar Gaza. Analysts say Mr. Gantz’s departure could embolden far-right partners in Mr. Netanyahu’s governing coalition who have threatened to bring down the government if he moves forward with the latest proposal.
The U.S. mission’s statement on Sunday alluded to Gaza’s postwar future by saying that the cease-fire deal would lead to “a road map for ending the crisis altogether and a multiyear internationally backed reconstruction plan.” The statement did not provide further details or explain how Mr. Blinken plans to sell the plan to Israel and other parties in the region during his three-day trip to the Middle East, which began on Monday.
The politics of hammering out a realistic cease-fire deal are extraordinarily complex. One major obstacle has been the United States, a permanent member of the Security Council. It has vetoed three cease-fire resolutions since the war in Gaza began last October.
Last month, a U.S. official said that the United States also planned to block a draft resolution from Algeria that described Israel as an “occupying power” in Gaza and called for an immediate stop to the Israeli military offensive in the city of Rafah.
Edward Wong and Michael Crowley contributed reporting.
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
6) Israel says that the cease-fire plan ‘enables’ its war goals.
By Michael Crowley, Adam Rasgon and Aaron Boxerman, June 11, 2024
Screenshot
A day after the United Nations Security Council unanimously endorsed a U.S.-backed cease-fire proposal for Gaza, both Israel and Hamas emphasized on Tuesday that they were open to the plan, even as it remained unclear whether either would formally embrace it.
An Israeli government official said in a statement that the proposal “enables Israel to achieve” its war goals, including destroying Hamas’s capabilities and freeing all the hostages in Gaza. But the official, who could be quoted on condition that their name and office be withheld, stopped short of saying whether Israel would accept the agreement. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly declined to take a firm stand on the plan.
A senior Hamas official, Husam Badran, said the group had “dealt positively” with the proposal despite “no clear and public stance” from the Israeli government. Earlier on Tuesday, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken had said that the fate of the deal rested with Hamas’s top leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, who has not said whether he supports it.
“All parties involved and following the negotiations know: Netanyahu is the sole obstacle to reaching an agreement that would end the war,” Mr. Badran said in a text message.
The statements offered little clarity to the fate of a cease-fire proposal that President Biden made public a week and a half ago in an effort to speed an end to the fighting. The 14-0 vote in the U.N. Security Council supporting the proposal came as Mr. Blinken met with Israeli leaders on his eighth wartime visit to the Middle East to press Hamas and Israel to agree to a cease-fire.
Speaking to reporters in Tel Aviv, Mr. Blinken sought to put the onus directly on Mr. Sinwar, Hamas’s top official in Gaza, asking whether the group would act in the best interests of the Palestinian people by accepting the deal. At least, he said, it would pause the fighting and allow more humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza.
Alternatively, he said, Hamas could be “looking after one guy,” Mr. Sinwar, who is thought to be hiding underground in Gaza, “while the people that he purports to represent continue to suffer in the crossfire of his own making.”
Mr. Blinken said he had received explicit assurances from Mr. Netanyahu in their meeting on Monday that he supported the proposal. The Israeli leader sowed doubts last week when he called the idea of a negotiated permanent cease-fire — which Hamas has called essential — a “nonstarter.”
Mr. Netanyahu has said he will not accept any deal that ends the war before Israel is ready, even as experts cast doubt on whether its war goals can be achieved. The Israeli government official who released the statement on Tuesday doubled down on that view, saying: “Israel will not end the war before achieving all its war objectives: destroying Hamas’ military and governing capabilities, freeing all the hostages and ensuring Gaza doesn’t pose a threat to Israel in the future. The proposal presented enables Israel to achieve these goals and Israel will indeed do so.”
But at the Security Council on Monday, Israel’s representative pointedly did not say whether her country backed the cease-fire proposal endorsed in the resolution.
The resolution adopted by the Security Council calls for an immediate cease-fire and negotiations on reaching a permanent end to fighting, and says that if those talks take longer than six weeks, the temporary truce would be extended. That appears to open the door to a longer pause in the war, one that some Israeli leaders have been loath to accept.
Mr. Blinken emphasized that “the commitment in agreeing to the proposal is to seek that enduring cease-fire,” adding: “But that has to be negotiated.”
Along with the immediate cease-fire, the first phase of the three-phase agreement calls for the release of all hostages being held in Gaza in exchange for a larger number of Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons, the return of displaced Gazans to their homes and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territory.
The second phase calls for a permanent cease-fire with the agreement of both parties. The third phase would consist of a multiyear reconstruction plan for Gaza and the return of the remains of deceased hostages.
Mr. Blinken called the Security Council vote a sign that Hamas would be isolated if it does not agree to the proposed deal. The resolution “made it as clear as it possibly could be that this is what the world is looking for,” Mr. Blinken said.
Adam Rasgon and Aaron Boxerman contributed reporting.
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
7) Torture Accusations Could Lead to Civil Rights Case in Mississippi
Federal authorities investigating the “Goon Squad” in a suburban sheriff’s office have widened their investigation, seeking out more victims of brutality.
By Brian Howey and Nate Rosenfield, Brian Howey and Nate Rosenfield are examining the power of sheriffs’ offices in Mississippi as part of The Times’s Local Investigations Fellowship, June 11, 2024
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/11/us/mississippi-torture-civil-rights-case.html
A photo of Christopher Mack in front of the Rankin County jail that he said was taken after he was beaten by officers. Credit...Courtesy of Trent Walker
More than two months after deputies were sentenced for torturing two Black men in central Mississippi, federal prosecutors have widened their investigation and may sue the Rankin County sheriff’s department for civil rights violations, a serious escalation that could lead to federal monitoring.
Todd Gee, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi, talked about the possibility at a meeting last month, where he urged local residents who attended to come forward if they had experienced violence or discrimination at the hands of deputies.
More than 50 people, including defense attorneys and civil rights advocates, packed into a library outside Jackson, Miss. Some shared stories of being harassed or falsely accused of crimes by deputies, according to several people who attended the meeting, which was closed to the press.
“Information from people like you can make a difference,” Mr. Gee told the crowd, according to video of the meeting obtained by reporters.
He explained that if deputies’ misconduct had been going on for years it could be evidence of a pattern of civil rights violations that could lead to a case against the department.
Rather than focusing on individual acts of misconduct, “pattern or practice” investigations determine whether civil rights violations have become part of an agency’s overall culture. Prosecutors can sue a department and seek a consent decree, a legally binding agreement that would force the department to implement reforms.
Rankin County came to national attention last year after deputies, some from a unit that called itself the Goon Squad, tortured two Black men in their home and shot one of them in the face, nearly killing him. Six officers pleaded guilty and were sentenced to federal prison in March.
An investigation by The New York Times and Mississippi Today last fall revealed that nearly two dozen residents experienced similar brutality when Rankin deputies burst into their homes looking for illegal drugs.
Sheriff Bryan Bailey of Rankin County, who has led the department since 2012, has vowed to remain in office despite calls for his resignation from the local chapter of the N.A.A.C.P. and others in the community.
Department officials did not respond to requests for comment on the federal investigation. Sheriff Bailey has denied knowledge of his deputies’ decades-long reputation for violence.
At the community meeting, some residents expressed concern that the sheriff had not been held accountable.
“You could sense the frustration,” said Dr. Ava Harvey, a local pastor who attended the meeting. “Something needs to be done because the trust is broken.”
Federal prosecutors held meetings like these in other cities across the nation as they were preparing lawsuits against police departments for civil rights violations — in Minneapolis after a police officer killed George Floyd and in Ferguson, Mo., after an officer fatally shot Michael Brown, an unarmed Black teenager.
The consent decree in Minneapolis requires officers to use de-escalation tactics whenever possible, limits the use of tear gas during protests and prohibits officers from stopping drivers for broken taillights. In Ferguson, the police department is now required to limit when officers use force and end discriminatory policing.
Representatives from the Justice Department declined to comment on their investigation in Mississippi or on the community meeting.
Angela English, the president of the Rankin County chapter of the N.A.A.C.P., who helped coordinate the meeting, said prosecutors asked people who did not want to detail their stories publicly to speak privately with investigators. The U.S. attorney’s office plans to host more meetings, she said, noting that the prosecutors are still in the process of gaining the trust of the community.
“A lot of people are still afraid of what may happen to their families as a result of them talking,” she said. “As long as people like Bryan Bailey are still in charge — and this happened on his watch — then there’s still going to be that level of mistrust.”
In a statement to The Times and Mississippi Today two weeks ago, the Rankin County sheriff’s department said it had conducted an internal review of its deputies.
The review came after the news organizations reported that, for a generation, Rankin County deputies had terrorized local residents accused of drug possession. More than 20 people said deputies had beaten, strangled, waterboarded or burned them during home raids and traffic stops.
In multiple cases, people said they had filed complaints about their experiences — or told Sheriff Bailey personally about the abuse — only to be ignored.
Beyond the deputies who were sentenced, at least four others who were present when someone was allegedly tortured by officers have left the department in recent months. Three were fired for refusing to cooperate with an internal investigation, and another resigned in good standing, according to Mississippi Department of Public Safety records. In December, another deputy resigned to avoid being terminated after violating department policy and procedures, records show. Sheriff’s department officials did not respond to requests for comment on why the deputies left.
The department conducted another review in late May after The Times and Mississippi Today unearthed a private text thread where deputies discussed beating criminal suspects, traded memes about rape and posted pictures of rotting human corpses they had found on the job.
Department representatives said Sheriff Bailey was not aware of the private group chat.
“We are confident that the actions of our current employees are and will remain proper as they serve the citizens of Rankin County,” department officials said in a statement.
In recent months, more local residents have come forward to the press claiming they had been abused by deputies, and at least three people have filed federal lawsuits against the department accusing deputies of using excessive force against them in jail or during arrests.
In a lawsuit filed against the department two weeks ago, Christopher Mack said that in 2021 deputies beat him for 45 minutes at the county jail after he refused to share information about drugs and gangs with deputies.
Several jail inmates assisted the deputies during the beating, Mr. Mack said in an interview. Pictures he said were taken just after the beating show his eyes blackened and his back bruised. Red splotches on his forehead and nose show the imprint from a deputy’s boot, he said, and he was hospitalized and treated for a broken rib.
“It mentally messes with me every day,” Mr. Mack said, adding that since the incident he has been diagnosed with an anger disorder that can result from trauma and that he now takes epilepsy medication to treat seizures. “I stay angry. I just stay angry all the time.”
After the attack, Mr. Mack said, Sheriff Bailey asked him who had beaten him. Mr. Mack said that when he told the sheriff it was his own deputies, Sheriff Bailey cursed and walked away.
The department did not respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit.
Residents have come to the local chapter of the N.A.A.C.P. before with complaints about the conduct of deputies, according to Ms. English. Until recently, many were too frightened to take action, but as more come forward, Ms. English said, their neighbors become more emboldened to speak out.
“People are tired of it,” she said. “They are not going to allow it to happen anymore.”
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
8) At U.C.L.A., Police Arrest More Than 20 Pro-Palestinian Protesters
Protesters marched through campus, pitched tents and occupied various quads in demonstrations that became confrontational at times.
By Jonathan Wolfe and Jill Cowan, Reporting from Los Angeles, June 11, 2024
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/11/us/ucla-protest-arrest.html
Security forces on Monday. U.C.L.A officials were far quicker to bring in a police response than they were in late April, after a pro-Palestinian encampment formed on campus. Credit...Mark Abramson for The New York Times
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators at the University of California, Los Angeles, clashed with law enforcement officers on Monday, sometimes physically, as they attempted to occupy outdoor areas and re-establish a protest encampment in the last days of the spring quarter.
More than 20 of the protesters were arrested on Monday night and were released after being given misdemeanor citations for disrupting the campus.
The demonstration began earlier Monday in the form of a funeral procession, winding its way through campus as protesters read the names of Palestinians killed during the Israel-Hamas war. It was the latest indication that protesters intended to remain vocal, ahead of commencement ceremonies later this week and a Wednesday decision from the University of California regents about who U.C.L.A.’s next chancellor will be.
The university has experienced a tumultuous spring. Violent attacks by supporters of Israel began on the night of April 30, followed about a day later by the dismantlement of a pro-Palestinian encampment, involving hundreds of arrests.
Administrators had allowed that encampment to stand for days, but on Monday, scores of police officers and private security guards moved in swiftly. In one instance, they rushed in to confront protesters who tried to barricade themselves in a courtyard. In another instance, two officers pointed nonlethal weapons toward protesters as another demonstrator was being arrested and taken into a campus building.
At about 8 p.m., following a dispersal order earlier in the evening, police officers in riot gear from several agencies began detaining people. About 100 protesters remained, chanting at officers.
The U.C.L.A. Police Department said, in a statement, that approximately 25 protesters were arrested, cited for willful disruption and released. The protesters were given orders to stay away from the campus for 14 days. An additional protester was arrested earlier on Monday on suspicion of interfering with a police officer and then released.
“Our Student Affairs and Campus Safety teams are on site to help ensure the well-being and safety of our community,” Mary Osako, the university’s vice chancellor for strategic communications, said in a statement on Monday night.
In April, administrators initially took a hands-off approach to the pro-Palestinian encampment that assembled on a signature quad on campus, because they said University of California policies gave wide latitude to peaceful free speech.
But tensions subsequently rose as supporters of Israel established their own space nearby and confronted pro-Palestinian demonstrators. At the same time, pro-Palestinian activists had tried to prevent some students from accessing campus buildings and walkways, according to university officials.
Several days after the encampment was established, counterprotesters attacked pro-Palestinian demonstrators, a night of violence that was widely condemned. Campus security guards and law enforcement officers stood by for hours as protesters were beaten and subjected to pepper spray.
In April, administrators initially took a hands-off approach to the pro-Palestinian encampment that assembled on a signature quad on campus, because they said University of California policies gave wide latitude to peaceful free speech.
But tensions subsequently rose as supporters of Israel established their own space nearby and confronted pro-Palestinian demonstrators. At the same time, pro-Palestinian activists had tried to prevent some students from accessing campus buildings and walkways, according to university officials.
Several days after the encampment was established, counterprotesters attacked pro-Palestinian demonstrators, a night of violence that was widely condemned. Campus security guards and law enforcement officers stood by for hours as protesters were beaten and subjected to pepper spray.
Chancellor Gene Block, who was already set to step down in July, narrowly avoided censure and a vote of no confidence by members of the Academic Senate who were frustrated by his handling of the protest.
The University of California’s biggest employee union, representing about 48,000 academic workers, voted in May to strike over what they said was discrimination against pro-Palestinian speech, based on the response to the encampment. A judge in Orange County Superior Court on Friday put a temporary halt to the strike after the University of California argued it was too disruptive to students.
The protest on Monday came two days before the University of California regents are expected to choose Mr. Block’s successor.
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
