Los Angeles freeway blocked by Jewish protesters against Gaza war

Reuters
Wed, December 13, 2023 





Los Angeles freeway blocked by Jewish protesters against Gaza war
Protest demanding a ceasefire and an end to U.S. support for Israel's attack on Gaza, in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Activists from a Jewish group demanding a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip blocked traffic on a busy Los Angeles highway during Wednesday morning's rush hour and snarled traffic for miles, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The protesters from the If Not Now organization sat down on the southbound lanes of the 110 Freeway downtown at about 9 a.m., bringing commuters to a halt. The protesters wore black shirts reading "Not in Our Name" and held up placards demanding Israel halt military operations in Gaza.

Video on KCAL TV showed a few enraged motorists fighting with protesters before police arrived.

About 75 protesters were detained when CHP officers began clearing the highway around 10 a.m., the highway patrol said.

Israel's military campaign on Gaza has sparked protests in cities around the world.

(Reporting by Brad Brooks in Longmont, Colorado; Editing by Frank McGurty and Cynthia Osterman)

Commuters Clash With Ceasefire

 Protesters Blocking LA Freeway

Storyful

Wed, December 13, 2023 

Video shows clashes breaking out between commuters and protesters blocking the 110 Freeway in Los Angeles on Wednesday, December 13.

Organization IfNotNow said its Los Angeles demonstrators had shut down the interstate to demand politicians call for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Footage filmed by Sergio Olmos shows people kicking signs and grappling with protesters who had sat down on the busy Los Angeles roadway. The demonstrators chanted “Let Gaza live” and “Ceasefire now” before they were confronted by drivers attempting to pass. One man is heard saying, “I have a wife who is in the hospital.”

Police read an announcement to disperse protesters and threatened arrest and “necessary force” before beginning to detain demonstrators. Credit: Sergio Olmos via Storyful

Video Transcript

- (CHANTING) Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live.

Ceasefire now. Ceasefire now. Ceasefire now.

[MUFFLED SINGING]

[SINGING AND CLAPPING]

Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live.

--fire now. Ceasefire now. Ceasefire now. Cease--

[MUFFLED CROWD SOUNDS]

[ANGRY CROWD ARGUING]

- I have a wife that's in the hospital.

- --California Highway Patrol. I am a Peace Officer of the state of California. All persons on the 110 freeway southbound, around Second Street, are in violation of blocking the freeway. You are hereby ordered to immediately leave the area within-- or fail to submit to the arrest, necessary force will be used. This warning also applies to members of the media. There is no delay in the arrest.

[ANGRY CROWD SOUNDS]

- (CHANTING) --will never be divided. The people united will never be divided. The people united will-- united will never be divided. The people united will never be divided.

Ceasefire now. Ceasefire now. Ceasefire now. Ceasefire now.

- Thank you. Woo!

[SIRENS]

- (CHANTING) down, down with occupation. Up, up with liberation. Down, down with occupation.

[CROWD CHEERING]

Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live.

Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live.

Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live.

- Get outta the way.

[ANGRY CROWD SOUNDS]

- (CHANTING) Ceasefire now. Ceasefire now. Ceasefire now. Ceasefire now.

[ANGRY CROWD SOUNDS]

Gaza protesters shut down L.A. freeway, angry drivers lash out: 'Just hurting working people'

Nathan Solis, Terry Castleman
Wed, December 13, 2023 

American Jews and allies block the 110 freeway in downtown Los Angeles. 

(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)

In the middle of morning rush hour on one of the most notoriously congested thoroughfares in Los Angeles, dozens of protesters sat in a row stretching from one edge of the southbound 110 Freeway to the other.

Calling for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, they chanted, sang in Hebrew and erected a 7-foot menorah in the middle of the freeway in downtown L.A. on Wednesday. Behind them, those at the vanguard of a miles-long traffic jam grew heated.

Videos from news helicopters and social media showed angry motorists exiting their vehicles and skirmishing with the demonstrators south of the interchange with the 101 Freeway. In aerial footage from KCAL News, a man is seen pinning a protester up against the hood of a car while others yell.

Some in the crowd grabbed and shoved demonstrators, throwing a traffic cone and protest signs across the freeway. A motorcyclist behind the protest line revved his engine repeatedly.

Read more: Hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators gather outside Biden fundraiser

"You idiots are just hurting working people," someone is heard shouting in a video posted to X by freelance journalist Jon Peltz.

Off the freeway, a mother with her daughter in the backseat sat at a red light near the 3rd Street onramp. She threw her hands up and shouted, "Is it over? I'm in support of a cease-fire but we're late."

Another woman hung out the passenger window of an SUV with a Palestinian flag shouting, "Free Palestine."

Ysidro Palacios idled in his pickup truck on Beaudry Avenue. He was supposed to drive to South Los Angeles at 10 a.m. for a painting job but he was about an hour late. "I turned around and got a coffee when I saw the traffic earlier," he said in Spanish. "I hope they reopen soon."

Protesters calling for a cease-fire in Gaza block the 110 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles with a 7-foot menorah. OF COURSE ITS CHAHNUKHA

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

The California Highway Patrol was notified shortly after 9 a.m. that the freeway was blocked, and by 10 a.m. officers were detaining protesters, leading them over to two dozen police cruisers. A tow truck was called to remove protesters' vehicles that were left blocking traffic. By around 10:30 a.m., the last protester had been led away, and the freeway was fully reopened by 11:30 a.m.

Authorities arrested 75 protesters on suspicion of failing to comply with a dispersal order, according to the CHP. The agency will investigate any reports of physical altercations, Officer Roberto Gomez said.

Organizers with IfNotNow, the progressive Jewish group behind the protest, apologized to drivers but said they felt there was no other way to make their voices heard to stop the killing and mass displacement in the Middle East.

“We have tried everything else. We have called, we have marched, we have sung, we have prayed. We have written letters and visited offices,” Noa Kattler-Kupetz, spokesperson for IfNotNow, said in a statement. “Yet politicians like President Biden continue to stonewall, and Israel continues to slaughter innocent Gazans by the thousands. Enough. We cannot wait another day.”

Read more: Palestinians struggle as a brutal war sours business. Just ask West Bank sweets makers

The protesters sang "cease-fire now" and lighted a 7-foot menorah, marking the seventh night of Hanukkah on Wednesday, as cars waited helplessly behind them. They also sang the folk song "Lo Yisa Goy" in both Hebrew and English, whose lyrics roughly translate to “nation shall not lift sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore,” according to the protest group.

A protester with his arms bound behind his back said "Free Palestine" when asked for comment as officers led him away.

In a statement to the media, IfNotNow wrote that its members "demand an end to the financial support of Israel’s occupation and documented war crimes."

Read more: Campus Palestinian allies demand UC board chair resign, citing 'one-sided' social media actions

About 100 people were involved in putting together the protest, Kattler-Kupetz said.

"Our action is grounded in our nonviolent philosophy and doing what we can with our bodies and voices" to bring attention to elected officials, Kattler-Kupetz said.

The group's action was meant to honor the lives of Israelis and Palestinians who have died in the war, according to organizers with IfNotNow. Hamas militants killed about 1,200 and took more than 200 hostages in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, and Israeli forces have killed at least 18,400 in Gaza in the two months since, according to local health authorities.

Another protest organized by IfNotNow shut down a Hollywood intersection in mid-November, and during President Biden's visit to Los Angeles last week, over 1,000 pro-Palestinian protesters gathered at Holmby Park, across from the site of a fundraiser.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

U.N. Palestinian refugee agency decries Swiss move to cut funding

Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber
Wed, December 13, 2023

Global Refugee Forum, in Geneva

Donate today | UNRWA


By Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber

GENEVA (Reuters) - The head of the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA)

 denounced a move by Switzerland to cut aid as the Gaza Strip faces a humanitarian crisis described as apocalyptic by the United Nations.

Speaking at the Global Refugee Forum in Geneva on Wednesday, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini deplored the agency's "chronic underfunding", a day after he expressed disappointment in the Swiss initiative.

"Despite our successes, UNRWA suffers from chronic underfunding which impacts the quality of our services," he said.

"Upholding refugees' rights is not only the responsibility of humanitarian and development actors, it is a responsibility ... shared with donors and host countries," he added, without mentioning the Swiss move.

Switzerland's National Council, the lower house of the Federal Assembly, approved cutting an annual contribution of 20 million Swiss francs ($22.83 million) to the agency by 116 to 78 votes on Monday. The initiative's author, who was part of a parliamentary delegation that visited UNRWA earlier this year, has argued that the agency lacked objectivity.

The upper house is scheduled to assess the initiative on Thursday. Both houses have to approve for the proposal to be put into effect.

"As a country that leads on international humanitarian law, I am disappointed in this decision to cut aid to the largest and most active humanitarian agency on the ground in Gaza today," Lazzarini wrote on X on Tuesday.

Lazzarini - who said last month he believed there was a deliberate attempt to strangle UNRWA's operations - said that the agency's capacity to do its work in the Palestinian enclave was on the verge of collapse.

Other U.N. bodies deplored the Swiss move. Filippo Grandi, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, said he hoped Switzerland and other countries would continue funding UNRWA.

"If UNRWA goes away and is not funded, the Palestinians that have already been so tragically penalized by history will be even more penalized," Grandi said.

Weeks of Israeli bombing, in response to a deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants, have internally displaced 85% of Gaza's population. More than 130 UNRWA staff have also been killed since the start of the conflict on Oct. 7.

Established in 1949 following the first Arab-Israeli war, UNRWA provides services including schooling, primary healthcare and humanitarian aid in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

(Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Gaza 'most dangerous place in the world' to be a woman

Charity ActionAid warns two mothers are killed every hour in the Gaza Strip


Rabina Khan
·Contributor
Wed, December 13, 2023

Two women mourn at a funeral following airstrikes in southern Gaza Strip earlier this month. (Reuters)


Women and girls in Gaza face alarming levels of brutality with more than three women killed every hour, a charity has warned.

Thousands of women in the besieged enclave have been killed during the recent escalation of violence sparked by Hamas insurgents' brutal assault on 7 October, which itself has prompted the gathering of more than 1,500 testimonies about Hamas fighters committing sexual violence during the attack.

The Hamas-run health ministry puts the toll in Gaza at more than 4,000 women, constituting nearly 70% of the total death toll in the region. The numbers tell a grim story – two mothers lose their lives each hour, and seven women perish every two hours.

Yara, a mother and humanitarian worker displaced to southern Gaza, told ActionAid: "Today, I no longer have hope. I have become more afraid than before. Every day that passes, this fear and terror increases more. I, as a mother, have only two wishes. The first thing I wish is that I die before my children. I don't want to see my children die in front of me.

“The second wish is that I die quickly, so when the missile comes to bomb us, I die quickly and I do not stay under the rubble for 16, 17, 18 hours.” she added.

Watch: Midwife says pregnant women in great danger in Gaza


The crisis extends to maternal health, with about 50,000 pregnant women in Gaza risking their lives daily due to the lack of adequate medical care.

Naimah, a midwife at Al-Awda hospital, recounted the experiences of pregnant women in Gaza to ActionAid, including that of one woman whose house was bombed. Despite suffering multiple injuries, the woman was in active labour and urgently taken to the operating room. Both mother and child were lucky to survive.

“This woman, who had suffered physical abuse due to the attacks, will also suffer mental health and psychological repercussions. Food scarcity will heavily affect her milk supply when she’s breastfeeding her baby,” said Naimah.

Riham Jafari, coordinator of advocacy and communication for ActionAid Palestine and a gender specialist said: “Gaza is the most dangerous place in the world to be a woman or girl right now. The number of women and girls being senselessly killed in this violence rises by the hour.”

Read more: Video emerges from inside al-Shifa hospital where newborn babies have had their incubators switched off

Hana, a doctor at ActionAid’s partner Al-Awda hospital in the north of Gaza recounts another incident: “One woman's house was bombed, resulting in her needing an emergency C-Section. She lost her newborn, tragically, her husband and the rest of her children were also killed. This woman, who dreamt of a safe family life, is now grappling with mental health issues after losing her newborn and family.”

Human rights organisations have warned the crisis in Gaza impacts women in specific ways. (Getty/Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto)

What is gender-based violence?

The issue of gender violence in warzones is one of major concern to human rights organisations. Sexual violence in conflict zones is a gross violation of human rights, recognised as a war crime as rape as a weapon of war, and a crime against humanity under international law.

The Hamas attack on 7 October, in which more than 1,200 civilians and soldiers in Israel were killed, includes evidence of rape and mutilation.

"The reports of alleged sexual violence during the attacks on October 7 are also extremely concerning and must be investigated," ActionAid said.

US president Joe Biden said of the accounts last week: “Reports of women raped, repeatedly raped, and their bodies being mutilated while still alive. Of women corpses being desecrated, Hamas terrorists inflicting as much pain and suffering on women and girls as possible and then murdering them."

Human Rights Watch has warned that, while there is little data on current trends in Gaza, women and girls typically are at increased risk of sexual violence in times of armed conflict.

The risk of HIV transmission heightens without access to sexual and reproductive health services, including emergency contraception and psychosocial support.

These critical needs are at risk of going unmet as Gaza already struggles to treat those injured by Israeli airstrikes, women urgently require medical supplies, treatment for injuries and diseases, including psychosocial support.

The United Nations defines violence against women as, ‘any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women.

In Afghanistan, under Taliban rule, 87% of women had experienced gender-based violence, while in Yemen, a woman dies in childbirth every two hours. In South Sudan, more than 65% of women face sexual or physical violence, and more than 40% of Nigerian girls marry before 18.

Now, with the conflict in Ukraine, the alarming reality persists: women and girls are particularly targeted during wartime, including as a tactic of war.

Read more: Israel battles Hamas as UN labels Gaza 'hell on earth' (AFP)

Displaced Palestinian women in a refugee camp amidst the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. (Reuters)

Displacement of women

In Gaza the displacement of 800,000 women, often multiple times, exacerbates the crisis, leading to overcrowded facilities with severe sanitation challenges.

‘We are among the displaced people from Beit Lahia from the north of the Gaza Strip. We have no clothes and no water. We go to a far place to gather water. It is not only the lack of clothes or cold weather, but until now we have slept on the ground. The rain has impacted us,” Lina told ActionAid.

Women and girls, living in these conditions, lack essential hygiene resources, privacy, and face additional hardships during menstruation.

Aya, a displaced mother, voiced her struggles: "As a woman, I’m suffering. I don’t have access to the basic necessities of life. There is no water. I suffered during my period. There was no water available for me to get clean during my period. I had no sanitary pads for my own needs throughout my period.”

Psychological impact

Even before the current war women and girls had experienced human rights violations due to Israel’s blockade and previous offensives, impacting their mental health. Now with the crisis the psychological toll on women and girls in Gaza is severe, ActionAid has said.

“The war is disproportionately affecting women. Women who have lost their children, husbands, relatives and family members will continue having feelings of sadness for years,” ActionAid's Riham Jafari told Yahoo News.

“Women who have children with deep injuries will feel pain and sorrow for them. They will be frustrated as those children could not be treated under the collapse of the health system in Gaza.”

RED TORY   Keir Starmer Says He Still Does Not Support A Ceasefire In Gaza (HP 2-min read)

The future

Last Friday the United States vetoed and Britain abstained on the UN resolution at the UN Security Council to pause hostilities.

Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s secretary general, said in response that the US "displayed a callous disregard for civilian suffering” and “brazenly wielded and weaponised its veto to strongarm the UN Security Council”.

ActionAid says that women and girls in Gaza feel the world has abandoned them and the NGO is demanding a permanent ceasefire.

For women like Inaya, a displaced woman from East Rafah, whose home was destroyed by bombing, fled with her family to southern Gaza, will continue to face the challenging conditions of living in a refugee camp.

“Don’t we need to sleep or [water] to drink? Don’t we deserve protection?” she asks.

 Moms for Liberty co-founder asked to resign by Florida school board

Florida school board approves resolution calling for Bridget Ziegler to resign over Republican sex scandal

SHE IS CHAIRWOMAN OF THE BOARD!

Steven Walker, USA TODAY NETWORK
Updated Wed, December 13, 2023 

SARASOTA, Fla. — As the Sarasota County School Board convened for the final time this year on Tuesday, Bridget Ziegler entered the board chambers facing a rift largely driven by agenda item No. 1: a colleague's resolution calling for her resignation.

Despite Ziegler's four board colleagues voting to call for her to resign and hours of public comment mostly urging her to do so, there was no indication she was considering stepping down.

The rising demands for her resignation came amid emerging details of her involvement in a three-way sexual relationship, which became public as a sexual assault investigation into her husband, Christian Ziegler unfolded.

In her first public appearance since reports surfaced of the sexual assault allegation against her husband, Ziegler appeared defiant. She asked the board's legal counsel, Patrick Duggan, about the nature of the resolution, who described it as "ceremonial in nature" because the board has no authority to remove a member.

“You know, I am disappointed. As people may know, I serve on another public board and this issue did not come up and we were able to forge ahead with the business of the board," said Bridget Ziegler, referring to her governor-appointed position on the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.

Bridget Ziegler did not respond to several requests for comment from Herald-Tribune reporters before the meeting. At a workshop earlier in the day, Bridget Ziegler quickly exited the chambers with a police officer while communications director Craig Maniglia told reporters that the board member was not available for comment.

Bridget Ziegler won her most recent election in August 2022, meaning her term expires in 2026 should she choose to not resign.

Only Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis could remove her from her seat, and school board members are not subject to recall elections. If Bridget Ziegler were to resign, the governor would appoint someone to serve until the next election cycle in 2024.

Before the meeting, board Chairwoman Karen Rose and members Tom Edwards and Tim Enos each publicly called on Bridget Ziegler to resign. Both conservative and liberal School Board activist groups have also called on Bridget Ziegler to resign.

Christian Ziegler also faces mounting pressure from DeSantis and other Republicans to resign his position as Florida GOP chairman. In police documents, the alleged victim and Bridget Ziegler both told police they had a three-way sexual encounter more than a year ago that included the two women and Christian Ziegler.

The seat of the student representative on the Sarasota County School Board was left empty during the board meeting Tuesday evening, Dec. 12, 2023, due to the nature of the topic of discussion. The School Board approved a symbolic resolution calling for board member Bridget Ziegler to resign.

Sarasota School Board members say the focus should be on students

At the start of Tuesday's meeting, Rose noted that the board had no student representative to honor and no student performances scheduled, citing the divisive circumstances of the meeting. She emphasized that her resolution to ask Bridget Ziegler to resign was intended to help keep the board focused on student achievement.

"It's not about the left it's not about the right, it's about students," she said.

Enos echoed Rose's sentiment following the vote but said he would leave the decision to Bridget Ziegler rather than taking the issue to the governor.

"Whether it's Democrat, Republican, whatever it is, it should be only about the kids," Enos said. "My decision tonight was only about the kids."

Sarasota County School Board member Tom Edwards, left, hands out a proposal for the board to consider writing a letter to Gov. Ron DeSantis, asking him to remove their colleague, Bridget Ziegler, right, during a meeting Tuesday evening, Dec. 12, 2023. The School Board approved a resolution calling on Ziegler to resign, but it has no authority to force her off the board.

Activist groups have called Bridget Ziegler's involvement in a relationship "hypocritical" as Bridget Ziegler has been a vocal advocate for legislation such as the Parental Rights in Education Act, dubbed "Don't Say Gay" by critics. Bridget Ziegler has also posted transphobic content on her social media.

Rose, Edwards, and Enos all said that Bridget Ziegler would be a "distraction" from the work of the School Board should she remain. Enos, who told the Herald-Tribune, part of the USA TODAY Network, on Friday that he felt Bridget Ziegler should resign, campaigned with Ziegler under the "ZEM" movement promoted by conservative Republicans to flip the ideological majority of the board in 2022.

Edwards pointed out that at the previous board meeting, he asked the members to move forward with a focus on student achievement. Now, only two weeks later, the district board meetings were back to being about politics, he said.

"I am not judging Mrs. Ziegler, her husband or anything about the Zieglers, and I could," Edwards said. "What I'm going to do again is be student-centric myself, in every one of my actions. I'm going to ask you all to do the same because it doesn't appear that Mrs. Ziegler is going to resign."

Following the conclusion of the board workshop, @sarasotaschools comms dir. Craig Maniglia prevents media from approaching Bridget Ziegler for comment as she walks away for executive session.

Follow me for updates all day today. pic.twitter.com/Vr0Hopz56I 

— Steven Walker (@swalker_7) December 12, 2023

Public comment focuses on Ziegler and resignation

Bridget Ziegler, at her elevated seat overseeing the board chambers, sat largely expressionless during the three hours of public comment that largely lambasted her and implored her to step down.

More than 70 people signed up to speak at the meeting. The first to speak was Martin Hyde, an unsuccessful congressional and city commission candidate in Sarasota who famously threatened a police officer. Hyde lauded Bridget Ziegler's decision to be present at the meeting, calling the resignation resolution a political move for Rose.

"This meeting is devoted to a motion that has no more authority than I would if I stood out in the street," Hyde said. "An utter and complete political charade for re-election."

Timothy Wagner also spoke in support of Ziegler, urging her to "stand strong."

Paulina Testerman, a local activist from Support Our Schools, called on Bridget Ziegler to resign. Testerman said she initially pitied Bridget Ziegler but said she felt Bridget Ziegler's hypocrisy made that difficult.

"Mrs. Ziegler, every time you want to wallow in self-pity and feign victimhood, just remember that you can't complain that it's raining when you're the one who created the storm," Testerman said.

Screenshot of a Tweet from Sarasota School Board Chairwoman Bridget Ziegler where she points to her shirt that reads "real women aren't men", which she posted to her Twitter account April 2.

Another local activist, Robin Williams, touted a petition to the board with nearly 2,000 signatures asking for Bridget Ziegler to resign.

Joyce Peralta also called on Bridget Ziegler to resign, adding that she felt Bridget Ziegler and her husband sought to profit from their positions instead of working for student achievement.

"Sarasota parents delighted this week in having to answer the question from their children: 'What is a three-way?'" Peralta said.

Representatives from activist groups also spoke during public comment, such as Nicholas Machuca from Equality Florida. During his comment, he said Bridget Ziegler had caused "indisputable" harm to the LGBTQ+ community and called for her to resign immediately.

"She has turned this school board into a circus and her continued occupation of a board seat is a joke and a stain on this district," he said.

Protestors, including Judy Nadler of Sarasota, with her "Don't Say 3-way" sign, gather outside the Sarasota County School Board Tuesday evening, Dec. 12, 2023, calling for school board member Bridget Ziegler to resign. Following the demonstration, the school board approved a symbolic resolution calling for Ziegler to resign after admitting to involvement in a three-way sexual relationship.

Late in the public comment section, a coalition of LGBTQ+ students spoke against Bridget Ziegler and urged her to resign her seat.

August Ray, a senior at Sarasota High School, said policies that Bridget Ziegler advocated for almost made their parents disown them and asked Bridget Ziegler to resign.

"I find it deeply ironic that you, as a champion of the 'Don't Say Gay' bill, have been outed in the same way trans kids are outed in Sarasota County Schools," Ray said.

Zander Moricz, who was the class president at Pine View School in Osprey and now attends Harvard, said Bridget Ziegler deserved to lose her job, but not because of her private sex life.

"That defeats the lesson we've been trying to teach you, which is that a politician's job is to serve their community, not to police personal lives," Moricz said. "So, to be extra clear Bridget, you deserve to be fired from your job because you are terrible at your job."

John Wilson, counter protester, attempting to speak over the Rally for Ziegler to resign. Wilson is asking for Tom Edwards to also resign. pic.twitter.com/bmFI4AutMq

— Steven Walker (@swalker_7) December 12, 2023

Rally against Ziegler

Ahead of the board's 6 p.m. meeting, activist groups such as Support Our Schools rallied outside of the board chambers to call on Bridget Ziegler to resign. Drivers on Tamiami Trail honked in support as they traveled past the district building.

More than 50 people gathered to hear activists speak out against Bridget Ziegler, calling out her "hypocrisy" and urging her to resign.

Lisa Schurr, center, with Support Our Schools, briefly stops John Wilson, right, from using his megaphone after Wilson tried to disrupt a protest outside the Sarasota County School Board Tuesday evening, De.b 12, 2023 in Sarasota, Florida. Demonstrators gathered before the board meeting to call for the resignation of school board member Bridget Ziegler after admitting to involvement in a three-way sexual relationship.

"I'm not a big believer in karma, but this is a pretty good advertisement for it," said Tsi Day Smyth, a queer parent of four Sarasota students.

One counter-protester arrived halfway through the rally with a bullhorn. He yelled for Edwards to resign instead.

Follow Herald-Tribune Education Reporter Steven Walker on Twitter at @swalker_7. He can be reached at sbwalker@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Moms for Liberty co-founder asked to resign by Florida school board

Wisconsin Supreme Court refuses to hear lawsuit challenging voucher school program

SCOTT BAUER
Wed, December 13, 2023

The Wisconsin Supreme Court listens to arguments from Wisconsin Assistant Attorney General Anthony D. Russomanno, representing Gov. Tony Evers, during a redistricting hearing at the state Capitol, Nov. 21, 2023, in Madison, Wis. The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Wednesday, Dec. 13, declined to hear a lawsuit brought by Democrats seeking to end the state's taxpayer-funded private school voucher program. 

(Ruthie Hauge/The Capital Times via AP, Pool, File)

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to hear a lawsuit brought by Democrats seeking to end the state's taxpayer-funded private school voucher program.

The lawsuit could be refiled in county circuit court, as both Democratic Gov. Tony Evers' administration and Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos had argued. The Supreme Court rejected it without comment in an unsigned, unanimous order.

Democrats who brought the lawsuit asked the state Supreme Court to take the case directly, which would have resulted in a much faster final ruling than having the case start in lower courts.

Brian Potts, attorney for those challenging the voucher programs, did not reply to a message seeking comment.

Supporters of the voucher programs hailed the court's rejection of the lawsuit.

The lawsuit “was plagued with misleading, misinformed, and nonsensical legal arguments,” said Rick Esenberg, president of the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty. That group represented private schools, parents of students who attend them and other advocates of the program.

Democrats have argued for decades that the voucher program is a drain on resources that would otherwise go to public schools.

The lawsuit argues that the state’s revenue limit and funding mechanism for voucher school programs and charter schools violate the Wisconsin Constitution’s declaration that public funds be spent for public purposes. It also contends that vouchers defund public schools, do not allow for adequate public oversight and do not hold private schools to the same standards as public schools.

The nation’s first school choice program began in Milwaukee in 1990. Then seen as an experiment to help low-income students in the state’s largest city, the program has expanded statewide and its income restrictions have been loosened. This year, nearly 55,000 students were enrolled.

The lawsuit was filed two months after the state Supreme Court flipped to 4-3 liberal control. But the justices were in agreement on this case, unanimously deciding not to take it up at this point. They offered no comment on the merits of the arguments.

The lawsuit was brought by several Wisconsin residents and is being funded by the liberal Minocqua Brewing Super PAC. Kirk Bangstad, who owns the Minocqua Brewing Co., is a former Democratic candidate for U.S. House and state Assembly.

Colorado cattle industry sues over wolf reintroduction on the cusp of the animals' release

STOP GRAZING ON PUBLIC LANDS

FOR FREE!!

JESSE BEDAYN
Updated Tue, December 12, 2023 


Gray Wolves-Colorado
In February 2021, Colorado Parks and Wildlife staff tranquilized and placed a GPS collar on male gray wolf 2101 after it had been spotted in north-central Colorado traveling with the female gray wolf 1084 from Wyoming’s Snake River Pack. 

(Eric Odell/Colorado Parks and Wildlife via AP)

DENVER (AP) — Just weeks before the deadline for Colorado to reintroduce gray wolves under a voter-approved initiative, representatives of the cattle industry association are suing state and federal agencies in the hopes of delaying the predators' release.

The Gunnison County Stockgrowers’ Association and Colorado Cattlemen’s Association say in the lawsuit filed Monday that U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services failed to adequately review the effects of reintroducing up to 50 wolves over the next several years.

The carnivores' planned release in Colorado, voted for in a 2020 ballot measure, has already stirred controversy and sharpened divides between rural and urban residents. City dwellers largely voted to reintroduce the apex predators into the rural areas where prey can include livestock that help drive local economies.

Erin Karney, executive vice-president of the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association, said they will also be requesting a temporary restraining order to halt the impending release, which will happen in the coming weeks once the wolves are caught in Oregon.

“A lot of our concerns that we brought up through the wolf management plan hearings were not adequately addressed,” Karney said. “Our members are putting our foot down and saying we can’t rush these processes. We need to take time.”

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services did perform an environmental review in part on what is called the 10(j) rule, which would permit the killing of wolves in Colorado under certain scenarios — particularly in the defense of livestock — even though the animals are protected as endangered species.

Still, the lawsuit alleges that the review doesn't satisfy federal environmental law and failed to grasp the consequences of wolf reintroduction.

“Impacts of wolf reintroduction... need to be properly reviewed to avoid unintended negative consequences to the natural environment, wildlife, and people of the impacted communities," said Andy Spann, a fifth-generation rancher and president of the Gunnison County Stockgrowers Association, in a statement.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services spokesperson Joe Szuszwalak declined to comment, citing ongoing litigation. Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokesperson Travis Duncan said the agency is reviewing the lawsuit and also declined to comment.

An analysis of state and federal data by The Associated Press found that, in 2022, gray wolves attacked domesticated animals hundreds of times across 10 states in the contiguous U.S., including Colorado.

Data showed that attacks killed or injured at least 425 cattle and calves, 313 sheep and lambs, 40 dogs, 10 chickens, five horses and four goats.

While those losses can be devastating to individual ranchers or pet owners, the industry-wide impact is minimal. The number of cattle killed or injured in the documented cases equals 0.002% of herds in the affected states, according to a comparison of depredation data with state livestock inventories.

Ranchers can be reimbursed by the state for confirmed wolf kills, but they say merely financial compensation doesn't assuage the problem of empty-handed customers and the work of installing wolf deterrents.

Gray wolves were exterminated across most of the U.S. by the 1930s under government-sponsored poisoning and trapping campaigns. They received endangered-species protections in 1975, when there were about 1,000 left, in northern Minnesota.

Since then, there has been no turning back for other states where gray wolves have become reestablished.

An estimated 7,500 wolves in about 1,400 packs now roam parts of the contiguous U.S.

___

Bedayn is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

Rancher groups sue to delay Colorado wolf reintroduction

On Monday, two rancher associations sued in an attempt to delay the release of gray wolves in Colorado.

US wildlife managers capture wandering Mexican wolf, attempt dating game ahead of breeding season

SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN
Tue, December 12, 2023 



Wandering Wolf
In this Feb. 9, 2023, image provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the female Mexican gray wolf F2754 in a capture box at the agency's wolf management facility at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge in central New Mexico. Federal biologists confirmed Thursday, Nov. 2, 2023, that the wolf has traveled beyond the boundaries of the Mexican gray wolf recovery area for the second time and has been located west of Jemez Springs, New Mexico.

 (Aislinn Maestas/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service via AP)


ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A match made in the wilds of New Mexico?

An endangered Mexican wolf captured last weekend after wandering hundreds of miles from Arizona to New Mexico is now being readied for a dating game of sorts as part of federal reintroduction efforts.

But only time will tell whether the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service can succeed in finding a suitable mate for the female wolf numbered F2754. The newly captured wolf will be offered a choice among two brothers that are also housed at the federal government's wolf management facility in central New Mexico.

“We wanted to bring her in earlier so that she has a longer chance to bond with a mate and then hopefully successfully breed,” said agency spokeswoman Aislinn Maestas. “We’re going to be observing her and waiting to see. Hopefully, she does show interest in one or the other.”

It could be late February or early March before biologists know if their efforts are successful.

It has been 25 years since Mexican gray wolves were first reintroduced into the Southwestern U.S. Through captive breeding and targeted releases, wildlife managers have been able to build up the population of what is the rarest subspecies of gray wolf in North America.

Despite fits and starts, the numbers have trended upward, with last year marking the most Mexican gray wolves documented in Arizona and New Mexico since the start of the program.

Federal and state wildlife managers had been tracking the lone female wolf for months, waiting for an opportunity to capture her again. Her journey began in the mountains of southeastern Arizona and crossed the dusty high desert of central New Mexico before reaching the edge of Valles Caldera National Preserve.

She spent weeks moving between the preserve and the San Pedro Mountains. After showing no signs of returning to the wolf recovery area, officials decided to capture her before the start of the breeding season.

Their opportunity came Saturday near the rural community of Coyote, New Mexico. A helicopter crew working with the New Mexico Game and Fish Department shot her with a tranquilizer dart and then readied her for the trip south to the Sevilleta Wolf Management Facility.

It was about the well-being of the wolf, said Brady McGee, the Mexican wolf recovery coordinator.

“Dispersal events like this are often in search of a mate. As there are no other known wolves in the area, she was unlikely to be successful and risked being mistaken for a coyote and shot,” he said in a statement.

Officials said the goal is that the match-making efforts net pups in the spring and more wolves can be released to boost the wild population.

The recovery area spanning Arizona and New Mexico is currently home to more than 240 of the endangered predators. There also is a small population in Mexico.

Environmentalists had pushed federal managers to let the solo female wolf be, pointing out that previous efforts to relocate her were unsuccessful following her first attempt to head northward last winter. They also pointed out that the wolf’s movements were evidence that the recovery boundaries are insufficient to meet the needs of the expanding population.

“I think what we can say is that we know wolves are driven towards dispersing as a way towards mating with non-related wolves. In the case of Mexican wolves, those unrelated mates are increasingly hard to come by because of the level of inbreeding in the population and the narrow band of Arizona and New Mexico where wolves are allowed to be,” said Greta Anderson, deputy director of the Western Watersheds Project.

Ranchers in New Mexico and Arizona have long complained that wolves are responsible for dozens of livestock deaths every year and remain concerned about any expansion of the wolves’ range. Rural residents in Colorado are joining them as officials plan to release gray wolves there in the coming weeks.

Colorado ranching groups sue state, federal agencies to delay wolf reintroduction

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Two Colorado ranching organizations have filed a complaint against state and federal agencies requesting the reintroduction of wolves into the state be delayed.

The lawsuit filed Monday by the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association and Gunnison County Stockgrowers Association comes just weeks before state officials were to release up to 10 gray wolves under a 2020 state law. The suit names the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Colorado Parks and Wildlife as defendants, according to a Tuesday news release from the CCA, which represents more than 6,000 producers and landowners.

The two organizations believe Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service violated the National Environmental Policy Act by not conducting a thorough environmental impact statement and that reintroduction should be delayed until that process is complete.

Both organizations have opposed wolf introduction since voters narrowly passed the ballot initiative to begin reintroducing wolves by the end of 2023. Colorado Parks and Wildlife is in the process of capturing wolves in northeast Oregon to serve as initial release animals.

The complaint is the first legal action taken since the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's 10(j) rule under the Endangered Species Act went into effect in Colorado on Dec. 8. The rule designates gray wolves in Colorado as experimental and provides state officials and livestock producers more management flexibility of wolves, including the killing wolves in situations where wolves are caught in the act of killing livestock or where chronic depredation is occurring.

Colorado to release gray wolves: Here's when, where and why.
Controversial release plan has divided communities

The plan to release the wolves has divided urban and rural communities.

Many ranchers and farmers noted the risks wolves could pose to humans and livestock. The state's wolf reintroduction plan was largely supported by urban residents and supporters of the plan say wolves are a natural part of the ecosystem in the West.

State officials said they hope that the gradual release of the wolves captured from Oregon would eventually create self-sustaining packs of 150 to 200 animals. In the 1940s, the wolf population in Colorado was nearly eradicated and now the state is only home to a small number of wild wolves.
Will this legal action delay the release of wolves in Colorado?

The key element to Monday's complaint is whether the ruling judge will allow for the continuation of wolf reintroduction into Colorado while the complaint is being ruled on. The legal process to determine a ruling regarding the complaint can take several years.

Andy Spann, a fifth-generation rancher from Gunnison and president of the Gunnison County Stockgrowers Association, said in the release that the organizations' concerns during the nearly three-year process to create a state wolf recovery plan were not adequately addressed.

"Impacts of wolf reintroduction, as would any other action of this magnitude, need to be properly reviewed to avoid unintended negative consequences to the natural environment, wildlife, and people of the impacted communities," he said.

Michael Saul, Rockies and Plains Program Director at Defenders of Wildlife, said in a news release the organization will work to see wolf reintroduction efforts continue. Defenders was one of several wildlife advocacy organizations to speak out against the lawsuit.

"Defenders is sorely disappointed by this transparent, 11th-hour attempt to delay efforts to bring wolves and their ecological benefits back to Colorado," he said. "Coloradans voted, the state worked extensively with ranchers and conservationists alike to prepare, and the lawful path forward is clear. Defenders stands poised to respond to ensure this last-minute maneuver will not thwart the historic return of the wolf."

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Colorado was under pressure to get environmental impact statement completed

Colorado paid the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service $1 million to complete the environmental impact statement. The state faced time constraints to get the statement completed in time for the 10(j) rule to go into effect before wolves were reintroduced.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife Director Jeff Davis previously praised the expedience in which the statement process was concluded, about half the time it normally takes.

"This demonstrates a sincere and effective commitment by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to accomplish this task on a very accelerated timeline," Davis said in a previous release. "National Environmental Policy Act work typically takes two to three years and it was accomplished in a little over a year-and-a-half."

Contributing: Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Colorado ranching groups file lawsuit to delay wolf reintroduction

Miles Blumhardt, USA TODAY NETWORK
Tue, December 12, 2023

Colorado cattle industry sues over reintroduction of gray wolves
Tara Suter
Tue, December 12, 2023 



The Colorado cattle industry is suing over the reintroduction of gray wolves into the Centennial State.

The Colorado Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) and the Gunnison County Stockgrowers Association (GCSA) are taking legal action against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) “regarding the pending release of gray wolves in Colorado,” according to a blog post on the lawsuit from the CCA and GCSA, filed a couple of weeks before the wolves’ reintroduction as a result of a voter-approved initiative.

“The decision to pursue legal action comes after extensive discussion and consultation with CCA and GCSA members, who are deeply committed to the prosperity of Colorado’s agricultural industry and the well-being of their livestock,” reads the Monday blog post on the lawsuit from the CCA and GCSA.

“Both organizations, CCA and GCSA, have opposed wolf introduction since it was a proposed ballot initiative and were involved in every step of the process,” the blog post continues. “CCA and GCSA actively participated in developing the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission’s Wolf Management Plan as members expressed detailed oral and written concerns regarding the scope of impacts associated with the potential release.”

Voters in Colorado approved a ballot measure in 2020 to allow the reintroduction of the carnivores. Despite the measure’s success, there has been contention around the wolves’ return to the Mountain West state, with those living in cities mostly voting in favor of doing so despite the issue not affecting them as much as those living in rural areas.

“We regard this path of litigation not out of a desire for conflict, but rather as a testament to our unwavering commitment to supporting Colorado’s agriculture community and producers of the western slope,” Robert Farnam, CCA president, said in a statement.

A spokesperson for the FWS told The Hill the agency is not able to comment “due to the nature of ongoing litigation.” CPW said in an emailed statement that it is also reviewing the lawsuit.

The Associated Press contributed.

Updated: 3:30 p.m.

Wandering Mexican gray wolf captured in New Mexico — for second time. ‘Frustrating’

Brooke Baitinger
Tue, December 12, 2023 


An endangered Mexican gray wolf known for wandering across the southern U.S. was captured after she roamed where wildlife officials wish she wouldn’t — for the second time.

The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish used a helicopter to find and capture female wolf 2754 — known as Asha among conservationists — in hopes of breeding her, according to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service news release on Dec. 11.

In January, Asha ventured away from the pack she was born into and outside the agency’s Mexican Wolf Experimental Population Area north of Interstate 40, wandering 500 miles north into the southern Rocky Mountains of New Mexico, McClatchy News previously reported.

Officials captured her later that month near Taos and held her at the agency’s Sevilleta wolf management zone outside Socorro, where officials tried — and failed — to breed her, McClatchy News reported. When Asha didn’t breed with the male selected for her, officials released her in June back into the Arizona wilderness where she was born in 2021.

Just as she’d done in January, Asha left the agency’s wolf management zone in late October, officials said.

This time, she “spent several weeks moving between the San Pedro Mountains and the Valles Caldera National Preserve” and showed “no signs of returning” to the management area, officials said.

So wildlife officials decided to capture Asha before breeding season started, and they managed to do exactly that Dec. 9, officials said.

“Our decision to capture F2754 was made out of concern for her safety and wellbeing,” Brady McGee said in the release. McGee is the agency’s Mexican wolf recovery coordinator.

“Dispersal events like this are often in search of a mate. As there are no other known wolves in the area, she was unlikely to be successful, and risked being mistaken for a coyote and shot.”

Officials paired her with a “carefully selected mate” and hope she’ll breed in captivity this time, the release said.

“The best outcome for her is to be released back into the wild, where she and her offspring can contribute to Mexican wolf recovery,” McGee said.

Wolf conservationists said Asha’s second capture disappointed them.

“Asha’s capture is a frustrating, but not permanent pause in her journey,” the Wolf Conservation Center said on Facebook. “Despite physical and political barriers, she’s continued to show the nation that her home exists north of I-40, not in captivity or in the arbitrary confines of the Mexican Wolf Experimental Population Area. When we finally stop trying to control wolves, we’ll realize that ‘recovery’ is much easier to achieve.”

Several people said in the comments section they were praying for Asha’s safety.

“No animal will ever see or feel arbitrary borders because in their free spirits the world is their playground,” someone said.

Defenders of Wildlife, a nonprofit group dedicated to wildlife conservation, believes the attempt to breed Asha will limit her movement once she’s released back into the wild with pups, the group told McClatchy News in an emailed statement.

“This wolf posed no threat to anyone,” said Bryan Bird, the organization’s Southwest program director. “She should be allowed to roam, to seek her own destiny. Wolves will naturally repopulate their historic range and we should be facilitating that instinct and preparing the way with facts and common-sense activities.”

Wandering Mexican gray wolf released back into Arizona wilderness ‘where she belongs’

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‘Legendary’ wolf that parented 40 pups reappears in Arizona 2 years after vanishing

Amid outcry over Gaza tactics, videos of soldiers acting maliciously create new headache for Israel

MELANIE LIDMAN
Tue, December 12, 2023 






This image made from an undated video shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, shows Israel soldier rummaging through private homes in Gaza. Several viral videos of Israeli soldiers behaving inappropriately in Gaza have emerged in recent days, creating a headache for the Israeli military as it faces an international outcry over its tactics and the rising civilian death toll in its war against Hamas. (X via AP)

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli soldiers rummaging through private homes in Gaza. Forces destroying plastic figurines in a toy store, or trying to burn food and water supplies in the back of an abandoned truck. Troops with their arms slung around each other, chanting racist slogans as they dance in a circle.

Several viral videos and photos of Israeli soldiers behaving in a derogatory manner in Gaza have emerged in recent days, creating a headache for the Israeli military as it faces an international outcry over its tactics and the rising civilian death toll in its punishing war against Hamas.

The Israeli army has pledged to take disciplinary action in what it says are a handful of isolated cases.


Such videos are not a new or unique phenomenon. Over the years, Israeli soldiers — and members of the U.S. and other militaries — have been caught on camera acting inappropriately or maliciously in conflict zones.

But critics say the new videos, largely shrugged off in Israel, reflect a national mood that is highly supportive of the war in Gaza, with little empathy for the plight of Gaza's civilians.

“The dehumanization from the top is very much sinking down to the soldiers,” said Dror Sadot, a spokeswoman for the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, which has long documented Israeli abuses against Palestinians.

Israel has been embroiled in fierce combat in Gaza since Oct. 7, when Hamas militants raided southern Israel and killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took about 240 hostages.

More than 18,400 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, around two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-controlled territory. About 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced within the besieged territory.

The videos seem to have been uploaded by soldiers themselves during their time in Gaza.

In one, soldiers ride bicycles through rubble. In another, a soldier has moved Muslim prayer rugs into a bathroom. In another, a soldier films boxes of lingerie found in a Gaza home. Yet another shows a soldier trying to set fire to food and water supplies that are scarce in Gaza.

In a photo, an Israeli soldier sits in front of a room under the graffiti “Khan Younis Rabbinical Court.” Israeli forces have battled Hamas militants in and around the southern city, where the military opened a new line of attack last week.

In another photo, a soldier poses next to words spray-painted in red on a pink building that read, “instead of erasing graffiti, let’s erase Gaza.”

A video posted by conservative Israeli media personality Yinon Magal on X, formerly Twitter, shows dozens of soldiers dancing in a circle, apparently in Gaza, and singing a song that includes the words, “Gaza we have come to conquer. … We know our slogan – there are no people who are uninvolved.” The Israeli military blames Hamas for the civilian death toll, saying the group operates in crowded neighborhoods and uses residents as human shields.

The video, which Magal took from Facebook, has been viewed almost 200,000 times on his account and widely shared on other accounts.

Magal said he did not know the soldiers involved. But the AP has verified backgrounds, uniforms and language heard in the videos and found them to be consistent with independent reporting.

Magal said the video struck a chord among Israelis because of the popular tune and because Israelis need to see pictures of a strong military. It is based on the fight song of the Beitar Jerusalem soccer team, whose hard-core fans have a history of racist chants against Arabs and rowdy behavior.

“These are my fighters, they’re fighting against brutal murderers, and after what they did to us, I don’t have to defend myself to anyone,” Magal told The Associated Press.

He condemned some of the other videos that have surfaced, including the ransacking of the toy store, apparently in the northern area of Jebaliya, in which a soldier smashes toys and decapitates a plastic figurine, as destruction that is unnecessary for Israel’s security objectives.

On Sunday, the Israeli military's spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, condemned some of the actions seen in the recent videos. "In any event that does not align with IDF values, command and disciplinary steps will be taken,” he said.

The videos emerged just days after leaked photos and video of detained Palestinians in Gaza, stripped to their underwear, in some cases blindfolded and handcuffed, also drew international attention. The army says it did not release those images, but Hagari said this week that soldiers have undressed Palestinian detainees to ensure they are not wearing explosive vests.

Osama Hamdan, a top Hamas official, aired the video of the soldier in the toy shop at a news conference in Beirut. He called the footage “disgusting.”

Hamas has come under heavy criticism for releasing a series of videos of Israeli hostages, clearly under duress. Hamas militants also wore bodycams during their Oct. 7 rampage, capturing violent images of deadly attacks on families in their homes and revelers at a dance party.

Ghassan Khatib, a former Palestinian Cabinet minister and peace negotiator, said he can’t remember a time when each side was so unwilling to consider the pain of the other.

“Previously, there are people that are interested in seeing from the two perspectives,” said Khatib, who teaches international relations at Beir Zeit University in the West Bank. “Now, each side is closed to its own narrative, its own information, rules, and perspective.”

Eran Halperin, a professor with Hebrew University's psychology department who studies communal emotional responses to conflict, said that in previous wars between Israel and Hamas, there may have been more condemnation of these types of photos and videos from within Israeli society.

But he said the Oct. 7 attack, which exposed deep weaknesses and failures by the army, caused trauma and humiliation for Israelis in a way that hasn't happened before.

“When people feel they were humiliated, hurting the source of this humiliation doesn’t feel as morally problematic,” Halperin said. “When people feel like their individual and collective existence is under threat, they don’t have the mental capacity to empathize or apply the moral rulings when thinking about the enemy.”

___

Associated Press writer Isabel DeBre contributed to this report from Jerusalem.

'I feel trapped': Scores of underage Rohingya girls forced into abusive marriages in Malaysia

Malaysia Rohingya Child Brides
Rohingya child bride, B, age 14, sits on a bed in an apartment in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Oct. 4, 2023. B came to Malaysia in 2023 to marry an older man. Her husband wants her to get pregnant, but she says she doesn't feel ready. "I still feel like a girl." Deteriorating conditions in Myanmar and in neighboring Bangladesh’s refugee camps are driving scores of underage Rohingya girls to Malaysia for arranged marriages with Rohingya men who frequently abuse them, The Associated Press found in interviews with 12 young Rohingya brides who have arrived in Malaysia since 2022. The youngest was 13. (AP Photo/Victoria Milko)

KRISTEN GELINEAU
Updated Wed, December 13, 2023

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — In a bedroom in Malaysia that has become a prison, the 14-year-old girl wipes away tears as she sits cross-legged on the concrete floor. It is here, she says, where her 35-year-old husband rapes her nearly every night.

Last year, the Rohingya girl sacrificed herself to save her family, embarking on a terrifying journey from her homeland of Myanmar to a country she had never seen, to marry a man she had never met.

It wasn’t her choice. But her family, she says, was impoverished, hungry and terrified of Myanmar’s military, which attacked the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority in 2017. In desperation, a neighbor found a man in Malaysia who would pay the 18,000 ringgit ($3,800) fee for the girl’s passage and — after she married him — send money to her family for food.

And so, the teenager — identified along with all the girls in this story by her first initial to protect her from retaliation — hugged her parents goodbye. Then M climbed into a trafficker’s car packed with children.

Deteriorating conditions in Myanmar and in neighboring Bangladesh’s refugee camps are driving scores of underage Rohingya girls to Malaysia for arranged marriages with Rohingya men who frequently abuse them, The Associated Press found in interviews with 12 young Rohingya brides who have arrived in Malaysia since 2022. The youngest was 13.

All the girls interviewed by the AP said their controlling husbands rarely let them outside. Several said they were beaten and raped during the journey to Malaysia, and five said they were abused by their husbands. Half the girls are pregnant or have babies, despite most saying they were not prepared for motherhood.

“This was my only way out,” says 16-year-old F, who in 2017 watched as Myanmar’s soldiers burned her house and killed her aunt. “I wasn’t ready to be married, but I didn’t have a choice.”

These unwanted marriages are the latest atrocity bestowed upon Rohingya girls: from childhoods marred by violence to attacks where security forces systematically raped them to years of hunger in Bangladesh’s squalid refugee camps.

Global apathy toward the Rohingya crisis and strict migration policies have left these girls with almost no options. The military that attacked the Rohingya overthrew Myanmar’s government in 2021, making any return home a life-threatening proposition. Bangladesh has refused to grant citizenship or working rights to the million stateless Rohingya languishing in its camps. And no country is offering large-scale resettlement opportunities.

And so the Rohingya are increasingly fleeing — and those who are fleeing are increasingly female. During the 2015 Andaman Sea boat crisis, in which thousands of Rohingya refugees were stranded at sea, the vast majority of passengers were men. This year, more than 60% of the Rohingya who have survived the Andaman crossing have been women and children, according to the United Nations’ refugee agency.

In Bangladesh, Save the Children says child marriage is one of the agency’s most reported worries among camp residents.

“We are seeing a rise in cases of child trafficking,” says Shaheen Chughtai, Save the Children’s Regional Advocacy and Campaigns Director for Asia. “Girls are more vulnerable to this, and often this is linked to being married off in different territories.”

Accurate statistics on how many Rohingya child brides live in Malaysia don’t exist. But local advocates who work with the girls say they have seen a spike in arrivals over the past two years.

“There are really a lot of Rohingyas coming in to get married,” says Nasha Nik, executive director of the Rohingya Women Development Network, which has worked with hundreds of child brides in recent years.

Malaysia is not a signatory to the United Nations’ refugee convention, so the girls — who enter the country without permission — are less likely to report their assaults to authorities. Doing so could put them at risk of being thrown into one of Malaysia’s detention centers, which have long been plagued by reports of abuse.

Malaysia’s government did not respond to the AP’s requests for comment.

M didn’t even know her future husband’s name when she climbed into the trafficker’s car alongside several other girls headed to Malaysia for marriage.

For a week, they traveled through Myanmar and Thailand. After crossing into Malaysia, they stopped at a house. Four of the trafficker’s friends arrived and each selected a girl.

The man who chose M — who looked to be around 50 — drove her to another house. When they got inside, she says, he raped her.

In the morning, he locked her in the bedroom and left her there all day with no water or food. The next night, he returned and raped her again. She was terrified he would kill her.

M was then handed over to another man who drove her to her fiancé’s apartment.

She didn’t dare tell her fiancé she’d been raped, because then he would reject her.

Her fiancé insisted they get married that day. In agony and bleeding from the rapes, M told her husband she had her period, so he wouldn’t touch her.

A Rohingya women’s advocate, who confirmed M’s account to the AP, heard about the situation and brought M to the hospital for treatment.

When M returned to her husband, she learned he was already married with two children. She had no power to object to the situation, or to the beatings, cruel taunts and rapes she regularly endures. She said nothing about the abuse to her parents, lest her husband stop sending them 300 ringgit ($64) a month.

She sits now in her bedroom, her thin frame cloaked in teddy bear pajamas. Dangling from the ceiling is a rope designed to hold a hammock for any babies her husband forces her to bear.

She once dreamed of going to school and becoming a teacher or a doctor. But she has stopped thinking of her future. For now, she just tries to survive her present.

“I want to go back home, but I can’t,” she says. “I feel trapped.”