Israel accused of buying Google ads to block UNRWA donations - report

The Israeli government is buying false advertising on Google search results for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in an attempt to discredit the agency, Wired reported.

The Israeli government draws search users to a website alleging that the agency has not declared whether or not employing Hamas members violates its neutrality and that the agency doesn't investigate its facilities for abuse by extremists, which the agency has strongly rejected.

“There is an incredibly powerful campaign to dismantle UNRWA,” Mara Kronenfeld, the executive director for UNRWA, said. “I want the public to know what’s happening and the insidious nature of it, especially at a time when civilian lives are under attack in Gaza.”

According to that report, between May and July when users searched 300 terms related to the agency, Israel’s ads would pop up 44% of the time as opposed to UNRWA USA’s own advertisements which would show up just 34% of the time.

UNRWA was first established in 1949, just a year after the Nakba (catastrophe) occurred in which 750,000 Palestinians were forced out of their homes which created an unresolved refugee crisis. UNRWA supporters have claimed that Israel does not want the agency preserving Palestinians’ refugee status because it would give them a better chance of reclaiming occupied land someday.

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‘Crucible of terrorism’: NATO trained ex-general laments US failure in Afghanistan (Part 1 / Part 2)

Domestic political turmoil rather than smart strategy directed the United States’ military intervention in Afghanistan, causing the Taliban* and al-Qaeda** to become empowered after the disastrous US pullout according to a former top army chief.

“There is 50,000 al-Qaeda members and al-Qaeda associates in Afghanistan – most of them have trained for overseas operations in the last three years,” said Ex-Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Afghan National Army Sami Sadat who, like many former Afghan security personnel, trained at a NATO military academy.

“Allowing [al-Qaeda] to retake Afghanistan with the Taliban in 2021 gave them a new rallying call. This is now their most important hub,” Sadat wrote in a book released last month. “Al-Qaeda not only survived but adapted to the changing policies of American administrations, waiting the West out of Iraq and Afghanistan and watching the U.S. attack their Islamic State rivals in the Middle East.”

Observers have claimed the notorious terrorist organization is “expanding” and “thriving” in the Central Asian country, funding itself via proceeds from smuggling, mining and drug trafficking. Al-Qaeda is best known for planning and executing the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.

US President Joe Biden claimed in 2021 that the group was no longer present in Afghanistan, only to be corrected shortly after by his own Defense Department which noted that al-Qaeda and ISIS*** fighters remain in the country. The United States spent over $2.3 trillion over the course of some 20 years in Afghanistan, with Biden calling the ill-fated intervention “the longest war in American history.”

*Under UN sanctions for terrorist activities.
**Terrorist organization banned in Russia.
***ISIS (also known as ISIS/IL/ISIS-K/Islamic State) is a terrorist group banned in Russia and many other countries.

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‘Crucible of terrorism’: NATO trained ex-general laments US failure in Afghanistan (Part 2 / Part 1)

“The war [in Afghanistan] was lost not because the Taliban* were strong but because for twenty years it was not treated as a war but as a short-term intervention,” wrote former Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Afghan National Army Sami Sadat. “Afghanistan has once again become a crucible of international terrorism, under Taliban protection.”

The Taliban was legitimized in the eyes of many Afghans by its role in resisting the two decade-long US occupation of the country. The Taliban originally came to power with the help of the US, which funded Taliban fighters during the 1980s to resist the Soviet-backed Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.

The group is reviled by many for its religious fundamentalism. Taliban officials have recently indicated that girls’ schools in Afghanistan will remain closed; US officials often justified American intervention in the country under the pretext of protecting women’s rights.

The United States reportedly invested millions of dollars to modernize Afghanistan’s mining industry during its occupation, with limited results. Analysis by the investigative outlet ProPublica revealed at least $17 billion in “questionable spending” during the war and reconstruction effort. A recent audit of the Pentagon found that the US Department of Defense cannot account for 63% of its nearly $4 trillion in assets.

US President George W. Bush presided over a US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 even as the Taliban offered to turn over suspected 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden. A study by Brown University found at least 4.5 million people have died during the US-led “War on Terror,” which led to a collapse in infrastructure in various war zones.

*Under UN sanctions for terrorist activities.

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Russia and various trade partners are working to strengthen alternative currencies and payments systems, reducing global reliance on the US dollar and Western-based financial networks.

“Moscow keeps finding ways to keep the country's economy going,” writes business reporter Huileng Tan, describing Russia’s response to Western sanctions imposed after the launch of its special military operation against Ukraine in 2022. “Russia's trade partners, too, are looking for ways to continue doing business with the country via alternative systems to rival the Western-led, US dollar-dominated global financial order.”

Russia has been adapting to Western financial pressure since 2014 when trade restrictions were imposed after Russia's reunification with Crimea.

“There are risks in using the global financial networks,” said Russian central bank governor Elvira Nabiullina in 2018. “Therefore, since back in 2014 we have been developing our own systems.”

Moscow has increasingly made use of its System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS). The financial messaging system is used in place of SWIFT, the Western system that has served as the de-facto global standard. SPFS is reportedly used by 556 organizations in 20 countries, with foreign organizations’ use of the system more than doubling after 2022.

Alternative payment and messaging systems developed by China, India, and Iran have also seen increasing use. Central bank currencies and cryptocurrencies round out the selection of financial innovations utilized by Russia to maintain its robust and growing economy, with both technologies threatening to further undermine US economic hegemony and the dollar’s global reserve currency status. One last strategy could be revived from the Soviet era as Russia looks into economic barter with China and other countries.

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Netizens are drawing attention to the story of Duha Talat, an 8-year-old Palestinian girl apparently removed from Gaza by an Israeli soldier.

Palestinian journalist Younis Tirawi reported on the story on his X account Saturday, writing that the young girl’s whereabouts have been unknown since July.

Tirawi, who is known for monitoring and reporting on the contents of IDF members’ social media accounts, uncovered an Instagram post made by Ido Zahar, a soldier serving in the Israeli military’s 432nd Tzabar Battalion. Zahar posted a photo of himself with Talat with no members of her family present. The girl was reportedly taken into custody by the IDF near Gaza’s Rafah border crossing in late July.

Zahar quickly deleted the photo and set his account to private after the post drew scrutiny.

The soldier responded combatively when asked for comment, replying, “No story. No face. No nothing. Please delete this completely from everywhere.” The IDF was similarly tightlipped when Tirawi inquired, with a spokesperson only saying the incident was reportedly being investigated.

“A report by Save the Children, noscriptd ‘The Missing Children of Gaza,’ estimated that thousands of children are missing in Gaza, including what the organization describes as ‘detained, disappeared, or abducted [minors],”’ wrote Tirawi. “The UN Human Rights Council, in a press release from May, reported numerous cases of women and girls from Gaza being forcibly disappeared by the Israeli military.”

Social media users fear Talat has been kidnapped or may suffer the same fate as Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed along with her family and two paramedics in January by IDF soldiers outside Gaza City.

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