Daily Report

Google fires employees who protested Israel contract

Google fired 28 workers on April 17 after dozens of employees participated in sit-ins at the company's offices in New York City and Sunnyvale, Calif., to protest a cloud computing contract with the Israeli government. Nine were arrested at the company headquarters in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood after they refused police orders to disband their occupation. Another five were arrested at the Sunnyvale headquarters. Tensions had been building between management and activist employees over Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion joint Google-Amazon deal to supply the Israeli government with cloud services, including artificial intelligence. Google employees affiliated with the group that organized the sit-ins, No Tech for Apartheid, said in a statement that the firings were "a flagrant act of retaliation."

Marek Edelman: Jewish hero, anti-Zionist

In Episode 222 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg marks the 81st anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising by reviewing the new documentary on Jewish armed struggle against the Nazis, Resistance—They Fought Back. A nearly forgotten element of this struggle was the consciously anti-Zionist politics of some of the resistance leaders—most notably Jewish Combat Organization subcommander Marek Edelman, who was the last surviving leader of the Ghetto Uprising when he died in his native Poland in 2009. Edelman was a follower of the General Jewish Labor Bund, which rejected the colonization of Palestine in favor of fighting for a dignified and secure place for Jews within Europe. This history is especially critical at this moment in light of credible accusations that the self-proclaimed Jewish State is committing genocide in Gaza, and propagandistic efforts to cynically conflate anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism.

US vetoes Palestine bid for full UN membership

The US vetoed a resolution to approve Palestine's application for full membership in the United Nations on April 18. The resolution before the Security Council was put forward by Algeria, and received 12 votes in favor—more than the required nine. Two countries, the UK and Switzerland, abstained.

War crimes suits against Libya's Haftar dismissed

A US judge on April 12 dismissed a group of civil lawsuits accusing Libyan military leader Khalifa Haftar of war crimes. District Judge Leonie Brinkema said she had no jurisdiction to preside over a case concerning crimes committed in Libya—even though Haftar has US citizenship and lived for more than 20 years in the DC suburbs of northern Virginia. The ruling came as a reversal in the case; in 2022, Brinkema had entered a default judgment against Haftar after he refused to sit for scheduled depositions. Haftar subsequently sent lawyers to argue on his behalf, and the default judgment was put off. 

Iran, Hezbollah threaten Argentina: Milei

The Argentine government of far-right President Javier Milei announced April 13 that it has placed its borders on alert due to potential infiltration of operatives linked to Iran and Hezbollah. There have long been concerns about a Hezbollah presence in the Triborder Region where Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay meet. But Interior Minister Patricia Bullrich in making the announcement this time emphasized a supposed threat from Bolivia.

Belarus: dissident rock band gets correctional labor

A district court in Minsk sentenced a dissident Belarusian rock band to two and a half years of correctional labor on April 12 after members were convicted of participation in group actions that violated "public order," according to human rights group Mayday Team. The band members have been behind bars since their arrest in January.

Russia guilty of rights violations in Georgia conflict

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled April 9 that Russia's occupation of two breakaway regions in Georgia systematically violated human rights. The ECHR found that Russia violated multiple sections of the European Convention on Human Rights, including the right to life under Article Two, the prohibition of torture under Article Three, the right to liberty under Article Five, and the right to respect for private and family life under Article Eight

Germany: ISIS suspect arrested for war crimes

The German Federal Criminal Police on April 11 arrested a suspect identified as Sohail A, said to be a former member of the Syrian insurgent group Liwa Jund al-Rahman and the Islamic State. Both are designated "terrorist organizations" by the German government, making membership an offense under Section 129a of the Criminal Code. Sohail A is also accused of participating in war crimes incuding forced displacement, breaching Section 8 of the International Criminal Code.

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