NATURE IS ANTI-ZIONIST

Even nature is tired of Israel. Watch as a bird takes the Israeli flag off a pole in this 2023 viral video, a lighthearted moment amidst the escalating geopolitical tensions in the region. Middle East Eye reported the incident occurred at an Israeli settlement in the West Bank.

It reflects the frustration of many worldwide as Israel becomes increasingly belligerent. In the past two years, Israel has militarily attacked Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iran as it continues its onslaught on Gaza, ongoing since 7 October 2023.

Continued……And for more than seven decades before that, it was occupying Palestine and imposing what many human rights organisations call ‘apartheid.’

The US appears willing to get even more involved than it has been following Israel’s 13 June strike against Iran, k*lling at least 639. Washington’s insistence that Iran should not acquire a nuclear weapon, despite its ally, Israel, possessing an undeclared amount, is hypocritical. What’s worse is the US is the only country to have dropped nuclear weapons on civilians. 

Critics have pointed to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea possessing nuclear weapons as the reason the US has not invaded it and that Libya giving up its nukes left it open to the 2011 US-led NATO invasion.

What should Africa take away from the recent events in the region?

Sources
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/29/israel-bombs-dozens-of-targets-in-lebanon-after-nasrallahs-assassination

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/12/11/israel-attack-syria-explainer

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/06/15/world/iran-israel-nuclear/israel-bombs-yemen-targeting-a-top-houthi-military-leader

https://apnews.com/article/mossad-iran-israel-weapons-missiles-a504ee31c70857c8d86a0d066997e344

https://www.nbcnews.com/world/middle-east/israel-intensifies-attacks-gaza-hospitals-rcna208741

https://www.nbcnews.com/world/middle-east/live-blog/live-updates-israel-iran-reactor-hospital-rcna213904

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/17/world/middleeast/israel-nuclear-weapons.html

https://www.newsweek.com/kim-jong-un-north-korea-nuclear-program-uranium-enrichment-complex-iaea-2087711

https://medium.com/twenty-tales/atomic-bombings-of-hiroshima-and-nagasaki-1945-ff5ea5c232c0?ysclid=mc4gmp8hdp439545906

On 10 June, Zimbabwe announced that it would ban exports of lithium concentrates starting in 2027 to retain more profits from its rich mineral deposits through at least two firms with $1 billion in Chinese investment willing to turn raw lithium into battery-grade lithium for electric vehicles and portable devices.

This move follows a 2022 ban on exports of lithium ore (the raw mined material), part of a broader crusade to benefit Zimbabwe’s economy and a trend amongst mineral-rich African states aiming to move beyond raw material exports.

For example, Namibia halted exports of unprocessed lithium and rare earths in 2023 to drive domestic processing. In 2021, the Democratic Republic of the Congo tightened controls on cobalt and copper concentrates to encourage in-country refining.

Continued…….. However, probably the most famous examples include those of the Alliance of Sahel States, comprising Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. These three countries ousted Western-aligned leaders in recent years and have embarked on a decolonisation process that includes reclaiming natural resources from foreign hands.

Returning to Zimbabwe, the country boasts Africa's largest lithium reserves and is among the world's top lithium producers.

Back in 2023, Zimbabwean Mines Minister Winston Chitando said that Zimbabwe needed to ‘move up the value chain.’ The government had required producers to submit plans by March 2024 for local processing.

Quartz reports, ‘Battery makers anticipate that lithium-ion batteries will keep dominating the industry as they are now 30 times cheaper than when they first came to the market in the early 1990s.’

Sources

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/zimbabwe-ban-export-lithium-concentrates-2027-2025-06-10

https://qz.com/why-zimbabwe-has-banned-the-export-of-raw-lithium-1849918099

https://english.news.cn/africa/20250611/343b90a958ad45bba322346e56569616/c.html#:~:text=The%20minister%20urged%20lithium%20producers,to%20boost%20value%2Dadded%20production

https://www.esi-africa.com/business-and-markets/zimbabwe-lithium-exports-soar-as-chinese-projects-take-off/#:~:text=Chinese%20firms%2C%20including%20Zhejiang%20Huayou,to%20China%20for%20further%20processing.

https://www.afrobarometer.org/publication/ad952-zimbabweans-grow-increasingly-dissatisfied-with-governments-provision-of-electricity/

https://lkyspp.nus.edu.sg/gia/article/the-nickel-gamble--indonesia-s-quest-for-rapid-industrial-development#:~:text=In%202020%2C%20Indonesia%20banned%20raw,1

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/indonesia-bans-bauxite-exports-in-latest-protectionist-move#:~:text=The%20President%20said%20the%20bauxite%20ban%20aimed,mostly%20from%20China%2C%20to%20build%20local%20smelters

https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/namibia-government-bans-unprocessed-critical-minerals-export/#:~:text=The%20southern%20African%20country%20has,and%20rare%20earth%20projects%2C%20respectively

https://www.mining.com/drc-bans-export-of-cobalt-copper-concentrate-fastmarkets/

https://practiceguides.chambers.com/practice-guides/mining-2025/bolivia/trends-and-developments#:~:text=Law%20No%20928%20of%2027,lithium%20production%20chain%20in%20Bolivia

https://aida-americas.org/en/press/court-decision-stops-new-lithium-mining-projects-argentine-salt-flat-sets-regional-precedent#:~:text=On%20March%2013%2C%20the%20Supreme,Atacame%C3%B1os%20del%20Altiplano%20Indigenous%20Community

WORLD REFUGEE DAY

A staggering 123-million people around the world are recognised by the UN as forcibly displaced - by war, violence, persecution and human rights abuses. Today is World Refugee Day 2025.

According to the 2024 UN Refugee Agency’s annual Global Trends Report, 37% of the forcibly displaced people in the world are in Africa. In 2024, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) warned that refugees in Africa remain the most neglected by the international community. According to the NRC, 9 out of the 10 most neglected displacement crises are in Africa.

In this video, we look at why millions of Africans have been forced to seek refuge, both within their own countries and abroad.

Continued……Sources

https://www.who.int/news-room/events/detail/2025/06/20/default-calendar/world-refugee-day-2025

https://www.unhcr.org/where-we-work/countries/democratic-republic-congo#:~:text=Internally%20Displaced%20Persons%20(IDPs)%20and,the%20largest%20in%20the%20world.

https://www.nrc.no/news/2025/february/eastern-dr-congo-hundreds-of-thousands-displaced-in-wave-of-extreme-violence#:~:text=5.6%20million%20Congolese%20are%20internally,was%20covered%20(OCHA%20FTS).

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/3/more-than-four-million-people-have-fled-sudan-amid-war-un-says

SPANISH JOURNO BLASTS ISRAEL'S G*NOCIDAL CYNICISM

Spanish journalist Cristina Saavedra (@csaavedra_on X) highlighted Israel's cynical manipulation of humanitarian issues by criticising Iran's retaliatory attacks on Israeli military and defence sites, while Tel Aviv has nearly flattened Gaza in its military assault on the besieged enclave since 7 October 2023.

According to Israeli media outlet Haaretz, Tel Aviv embeds its military facilities in civilian areas, a tactic it accuses H*mas of doing. For instance, an Iranian attack on 19 June damaged the Soroka Medical Centre in southern Israel when it targeted an adjacent command and intelligence headquarters.

Continued………. Israel's military onslaught in Gaza has damaged or destroyed at least 94 per cent of all hospitals, according to the UN. During just one week in May, the World Health Organization (WHO) recorded 28 attacks on health care in Gaza and 697 attacks since October 2023. Only 19 out of the 36 hospitals in the Gaza Strip are still operational. 

On 13 March, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel concluded that Israel's attacks on reproductive healthcare in Gaza amounted to ‘g*nocidal acts.' It said Israel systematically destroyed facilities and blocked essential aid, measures ‘calculated to bring about the physical destruction of Palestinians’ and ‘to prevent births.’

Israel's military onslaught on Gaza Israel's subsequent military assault on Gaza has killed nearly 55,600 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, while displacing almost the entire population of more than 2 million and causing a worsening hunger crisis. A July 2024 report by the British medical journal The Lancet put the total death toll over 186,000.

Video credit: La Sexta Noticias

Sources

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/israel-iran-war-hospital-iranian-missile-soroka/


https://news.sky.com/story/gaza-hospital-attack-analysis-contradicts-israels-evidence-justifying-airstrike-13367823


https://www.icrc.org/sites/default/files/document/file_list/dp_consult_31_hcid_web.pdf


https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/03/more-human-can-bear-israels-systematic-use-sexual-reproductive-and-other



https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/19/israel-attacks-irans-arak-nuclear-reactor-as-iran-strikes-israeli-hospital


https://archive.ph/QcfGU


https://www.ochaopt.org/content/humanitarian-situation-update-288-gaza-strip


https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/north-gaza-health-system-has-been-reduced-ashes


https://www.who.int/news/item/22-05-2025-health-system-at-breaking-point-as-hostilities-further-intensify--who-warns


https://www.unrwa.org/resources/reports/unrwa-situation-report-175-situation-gaza-strip-and-west-bank-including-east-jerusalem


https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-war-news-gaza-aid-06-17-2025-7af5503ea7d2176674fba26d34f6ef74


https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/eu-governments-hypocrisy-fueling-suffering-gaza


https://www.icj-cij.org/node/203454#:~:text=01%2D00%2DEN-,summary,2024%2F1


https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/geneva-convention-relative-protection-civilian-persons-time-war

https://apnews.com/article/spain-israel-icj-genocide-case-67d4d9b8ecf6fd88e718319a5d93465a

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)01169-3/fulltext

COLONIAL SYMPATHIES: REAGAN'S GRENADA APOLOGY

In 1983, US President Ronald Reagan apologised to then-British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher for the US invasion of Grenada, which was carried out without informing her. The apology came during a phone call as the invasion was underway, with Reagan expressing regret for any 'embarrassment' caused to Thatcher, given Grenada's status as a Commonwealth nation.

This apology is quite telling of how invaders regard each other versus the people they invade. While they dehumanise and show no regard for those subjected to their oppression and brutality, they courteously extend recognition to one another. Reagan's apology to Thatcher can be viewed quite simply as a form of recognition among the thieves.

Here, we break down the colonial apology for what it is.

Continued……Sources

https://time.com/3576221/ronald-reagan-margaret-thatcher-new-tapes/

https://www.deccanherald.com/archives/reagan-apologised-thatcher-over-grenada-2223798

https://nationalpost.com/news/reagan-apologizes-to-thatcher-for-secret-grenada-invasion-in-newly-released-white-house-recording

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-29986729

JOURNO SCHOOLED ON GAZA AID DECEPTION

TalkTV host Julia Hartley-Brewer (@JuliaHB1 on X) could not name a single organisation or entity to support her statement that H*m*s has been stealing food aid when her guest, Dr Ashok Kumar (@broseph_stalin on X), asked her for proof.

Many have long accused Hartley-Brewer of employing an abrasive and confrontational interview style. Some noticed Hartley-Brewer spoke over Dr Mustafa Barghouti, the general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, in an interview that went viral. She notably accused Barghouti of misogyny by saying, ‘Maybe you're not used to women talking. I don't know!’

Continued……However, such tactics would not intimidate Kumar, who insisted Hartley-Brewer uphold a basic journalistic standard: Presenting evidence to support a statement or opinion. Beginning on 2 March, Israel stopped all supplies, such as food, water and medicine, from reaching Gaza to force H*mas to renegotiate the 19 January ceasefire. Then, on 18 March, it broke the truce by launching airstrikes.

The UN and other international organisations are warning that the entire population of more than 2 million people faces prolonged food shortages, with nearly a half-million grappling with catastrophic levels of hunger, acute malnutrition, starvation, illness and death. 

International experts and organisations have issued repeated warnings of widespread famine unless Israel lifts its blockade of Gaza and allows easier aid access.

In May, the UN reported that 57 children died from malnutrition since Israel began the aid blockade on 2 March, with nearly 71,000 children under the age of five expected to be ‘acutely malnourished’ over the next 10 months. 

As of press time, Israel's onslaught on Gaza and the Palestinian people has k*lled 55,362 and injured more than 127,000 since 7 October 2023, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Since breaking the ceasefire on 18 March, Israel has k*lled 4,821 people, including hundreds of children, and injured at least 15,353 people, as of a UN article on 13 May.

Video credit: TalkTV

Sources

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250416-israel-says-no-humanitarian-aid-will-enter-gaza

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/un-official-calls-israels-gaza-aid-blockade-cruel-collective-punishment

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/cindy-mccain-hamas-israel-aid-b2757707.html

https://www.refugeesinternational.org/reports-briefs/siege-and-starvation-how-israel-obstructs-aid-to-gaza/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/apr/16/no-humanitarian-aid-gaza-israeli-minister-israel-katz-hamas

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/03/02/middleeast/israel-halts-gaza-humanitarian-aid-intl-hnk

https://apnews.com/article/gaza-israel-hamas-palestinians-aid-explainer-ecc0e70d5ff1120a04bf36626dfd96f4

https://news.sky.com/video/united-nations-says-theres-no-evidence-hamas-is-stealing-aid-war-in-gaza-13379280#:~:text=News%20%7C%20Sky%20News-,United%20Nations%20says%20there's%20'no%20evidence'%20Hamas%20is%20stealing%20aid,instead%20using%20a%20US%20company.

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/gaza-death-toll-close-to-55-000-as-israel-kills-54-more-palestinians-amid-ongoing-genocide/3593094

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv-radio-and-on-demand/broadcast-standards/talktv-must-ensure-potentially-offensive-comments-are-justified-warns-ofcom

https://www.trtworld.com/discrimination/calls-grow-on-uk-regulator-to-act-against-talktv-after-racist-interview-16580991

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/3/18/gaza-tracker

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/gaza-death-toll-nears-55-400-as-israel-s-genocidal-war-continues-unabated/3599279

https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/05/1163166

HEMEDTI, THE MOSSAD AND TRUMP

What does Sudan’s Hemedti have in common with a former Mossad agent and US President Donald Trump?

A shocking web of money and lobbying in the quest for global recognition.

In the shadows of Sudan’s brutal foreign-backed proxy war, Hemedti, officially known as Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, leads the United Arab Emirates (UAE)-backed Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a group accused of gross human rights abuses and gen*cide in the Darfur region of Sudan. He reportedly uses his vast gold wealth and foreign allies to buy legitimacy on the world stage.

From Ari Ben-Menashe, an Israeli-Canadian formerly with Israel’s spy agency, Mossad, to the corridors of Washington, this is the story of how authoritarian power, public relations firms and foreign interests collide. The UAE backs the proxy war, and Tel Aviv praises Sudan’s normalisation (which both warring generals supported in 2020), so we ask: What does this mean for the people of Sudan if Hemedti meets US President Donald Trump?

Continued……. Sources

1. https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/06/28/seeking-to-secure-power-sudans-military-rulers-hire-lobbying-help-hemeti-lobbying-influence-dagolo-hemeti-rsf/

2. https://worldpeacefoundation.org/blog/the-rsf-and-genocide-in-sudan-guilty-as-charged/

3. https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/haftar-hemeti-and-lobbyists-libya-connection

4. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/07/myanmar-hires-pr-agent-to-explain-real-situation-to-western-leaders

5. https://www.ft.com/content/816fb488-99a7-11e9-9573-ee5cbb98ed36

6. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/24/uae-sudan-war-peace-emirates-uk-us-officials

7. https://african.business/2019/07/economy/sudanese-gold-hemedtis-untold-power

8. https://www.timesofisrael.com/sudan-and-israel-say-talks-underway-for-deal-to-normalize-ties/