Amid the massive war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine and Israel in Gaza, there are dissident Russians and dissident Israelis who are courageously protesting, and resisting the consolidation of a pro-genocide consensus. Recent violent and deadly attacks on perceived Israeli or pro-Israel human targets in the US meanwhile point to the dangers of the notion of collective guilt. In Episode 281 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg urges that dissident minorities must not be dismissed as irrelevant, but encouraged and offered solidarity.

Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief & Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) Philippe Lazzarini on June 1 urged Israel to lift the aid blockade in Gaza.

The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine published a report May 28 declaring Russian drone attacks on Ukrainian civilians in Kherson oblast to be war crimes and crimes against humanity. The commission found that roughly 150 Ukrainian civilians have been killed over the past year as a result of the systematic Russian drone attacks:

Human Rights Watch has called on the government of Mali to "credibly and independently" investigate the apparent extrajudicial execution of 22 men who were detained by the army in the town of Diafarabé. Senior Sahel researcher at Human Rights Watch Ilaria Allegrozzi said in a May 20 statement: "The killing of at least 22 men in military custody puts a burden on the Malian authorities to demonstrate that its investigation is credible and to make public its findings." She further noted that those responsible should be prosecuted "fully and fairly."

Amid growing warnings of starvation, the Israeli military on May 19 allowed humanitarian aid into Gaza for the first time in more than 11 weeks. The nine trucks permitted to pass through the Kerem Shalom crossing came after the UK, France and Canada threatened to sanction Israel if it did not allow in assistance. UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher welcomed the move, but said it was a "drop in the ocean of what is urgently needed." Earlier this year, during the two-month ceasefire that ended in March, nearly 600 trucks entered Gaza every day. (NewsHour, France24, CNN)

Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem on May 12 announced the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for individuals from Afghanistan. Noem stated that the "conditions in Afghanistan" no longer warrant continuing the program, finding that it is "contrary to the national interest." TPS for Afghans was originally introduced by former president Joe Biden in March 2022 to protect the more than 70,000 Afghans who had entered the US as part of the government's "Operation Allies Welcome," after the Taliban's takeover in August 2021. (Jurist)

United Nations human rights experts urged on May 7 that the international community must act immediately to end the intensifying violence in Gaza.

The experts stated that since the end of the ceasefire, which started on Jan. 19 and ended on March 18, there have been yet harsher attacks on the population in Gaza: "Escalating atrocities in Gaza present an urgent moral crossroads and States must act now to end the violence or bear witness to the annihilation of the Palestinian population in Gaza—an outcome with irreversible consequences for our shared humanity and multilateral order."

Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused the military of Burkina Faso on May 12 of orchestrating massacres of Fulani civilians between March 14 and April 22 under the auspices of a counter-terrorism operation against Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wa al-Muslimeen (JNIM)—which reportedly retaliated through the targeted killings of civilians viewed as supportive of the military.

The military operation took place in Banwa and Sourou provinces, with interviewees quoted by HRW stating that women, children and the elderly were often targeted. Witnesses believe that the operation has resulted in the displacement of most Fulani people from Banwa province. The Fulani have been collectively blamed for violence perpetrated by JNIM and other affiliated Islamist groups.