FOREVER CHEMICALS

Scientists invent filter that can recycle PFAS into renewable batteries

By Kenji Sato
ABC Radio Brisbane
TODAY


Cheng Zhang says the filter is more effective at absorbing PFAS than anything else on the market. (Supplied: University of Queensland)

In short:

Researchers have invented a filter that removes harmful PFAS chemicals from water and recycles them in renewable batteries.

University of Queensland scientists say they believe the technology will be on the market in three years.

What's next?

The filters will be trialled at a Brisbane wastewater treatment plant before being expanded to other sites.

abc.net.au/news/scientists-invent-pfas-filter-for-battery-technology/104308214Link copied


Scientists have invented a filter that can remove harmful "forever chemicals" from drinking water and use it in renewable batteries.

The University of Queensland's invention can extract polyfluroaklyl (PFAS) compounds, which are notoriously difficult to remove from the environment or human bodies.

Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology polymer chemist Cheng Zhang said the filter used their new sorbent solution and an ion-exchange technique.

He said this was over five times more effective than any existing technology on the market.


Researchers say this patented sorbent is several times more effective than existing technology. (Supplied: University of Queensland)

'Confident' technology will be ready in three years

Dr Zheng said it was capable of reducing PFAS levels to "basically non-detectable" levels in drinking water, far below EPA safe drinking guidelines.

Additionally, he said the filter could treat contaminated landfill leachate — previously not possible with commercially available technology.

Dr Zheng said the institute had received its patent and was confident the technology would be ready for commercial production in three years.

Cheng Zhang says these renewable batteries were the first to harness filtered PFAS compounds. (Supplied: University of Queensland)

"What we're trying to do now is either license the technology or create a start-up company," Dr Zheng said.

"The final goal for us is to further commercialise our technology and make it useful to solve real world problems and make a PFAS-free world.

"Not only does our filter technology remove harmful particles from water, those captured chemicals are available to be repurposed to help decarbonise the planet."
Testing at wastewater treatment plant

The technology will be tested at Brisbane's Luggage Point Wastewater Treatment Plant, one of the largest recycled water facilities in the world.

Dr Zheng said in the coming years they would expand to other trial sites, which were yet to be locked in.

The Luggage Point Wastewater Treatment Plant is one of the world's largest recycled water facilities. (ABC News: Jessica Rendall)

Dr Zheng said they were looking at trialling landfill sites as well as working with companies that dealt with contaminated compost leachate.
New renewable battery technology

He said their renewable batteries were the first in the world to use PFAS compounds in this way.

"The increasing demand for high-performance rechargeable batteries means manufacturers are constantly searching for new materials that improve the energy density, safety and cycling stability of batteries," he said.

"Recycled PFAS has excellent properties for this purpose."

The PFAS filter pilot testing program has received $1 million in state grants from the Advance Queensland Industry Research Projects program.

Cheng Zhang says this PFAS is now being used to help the planet, instead of harming it. (Supplied: University of Queensland)

PFAS detected in drinking water

A recent University of New South Wales study found PFAS was far more widespread than previously believed.

Civil and environmental engineering professor Denis O'Carroll said he was "surprised" to discover that a small part of the Sydney Water Catchment in the Blue Mountains had levels above safe drinking standards.
Cancer-linked PFAS detected in Sydney drinking water samples

Photo shows Warragamba Dam reached capacity on Saturday May 11 and began spilling on Sunday 12 for the second time this year

Perfluorinated chemicals, considered unsafe in drinking water by the US, have been detected at water filtration plants across Sydney.

He said water providers such as Sydney Water did not routinely measure the broad range of PFAS compounds in drinking water.

Dr O'Carroll said much more research was needed to understand how widespread and damaging PFAS was on the environment.

"We need to look at the human health and ecosystem impacts of PFAS that we've put into the environment," Professor O'Carroll said.

"PFAS is one example, but there are a range of chemicals we put out into the environment every day so we need to have a broad consideration as a society."

 

UAF scientist’s method could give months’ warning of major earthquakes

 August 29, 2024 / Rod Boyce

The public could have days or months of warning about a major earthquake through identification of prior low-level tectonic unrest over large areas, according to research by a University of Alaska Fairbanks scientist who analyzed two major quakes in Alaska and California.

The work was led by research assistant professor Társilo Girona of the UAF Geophysical Institute. 

Girona, a geophysicist and data scientist, studies precursory activity of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. Geologist Kyriaki Drymoni of the  Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, Germany, is a co-author.

The detection method, based on machine learning, was published Aug. 28 in Nature Communications. 

“Our paper demonstrates that advanced statistical techniques, particularly machine learning, have the potential to identify precursors to large-magnitude earthquakes by analyzing datasets derived from earthquake catalogs,” Girona said.

The authors wrote a computer algorithm to search the data to look for abnormal seismic activity. Algorithms are a set of computer instructions that teach a program to interpret data, learn from it and make informed predictions or decisions.

They focused on two major earthquakes: the 2018 magnitude 7.1 Anchorage earthquake and the 2019 Ridgecrest, California, earthquake sequence of magnitudes 6.4 to 7.1.

They found that approximately three months of abnormal low-magnitude regional seismicity had occurred across about 15% to 25% of Southcentral Alaska and Southern California prior to each of the two studied earthquakes.

Their research finds that unrest preceding major earthquakes is mostly captured by seismic activity with magnitude below 1.5.

The Anchorage earthquake occurred Nov. 30, 2018, at 8:29 a.m., with an epicenter located approximately 10.5 miles north of the city. It caused extensive damage to some roads and highways, and several buildings sustained damage.

Using their data-trained program, Girona and Drymoni found with the Anchorage earthquake that the probability that a major earthquake would happen in 30 days or fewer increased abruptly up to approximately 80% around three months before the Nov. 30 earthquake. The probability increased to approximately 85% just a few days before it occurred. They had similar probability findings for the Ridgecrest earthquake sequence for a period beginning about 40 days prior to the onset of the quake sequence.

Girona and Drymoni propose a geologic cause for the low-magnitude precursor activity: A significant increase in pore fluid pressure within a fault.

Pore fluid pressure refers to the pressure of fluid within a rock. High pore fluid pressures can potentially lead to fault slip if the pressure is sufficient to overcome the frictional resistance between the blocks of rock on either side of the fault.

“Increased pore fluid pressure in faults that lead to major earthquakes changes the faults’ mechanical properties, which in turn leads to uneven variations in the regional stress field,” Drymoni said. “We propose that these uneven variations … control the abnormal, precursory low-magnitude seismicity.”

Machine learning is having a major positive impact on earthquake research, Girona said.

“Modern seismic networks produce enormous datasets that, when properly analyzed, can offer valuable insights into the precursors of seismic events,” he said. “This is where advancements in machine learning and high-performance computing can play a transformative role, enabling researchers to identify meaningful patterns that could signal an impending earthquake.” 

The authors state that their algorithm will be tested in near-real-time situations to identify and address potential challenges for earthquake forecasting. The method should not be employed in new regions without training the algorithm with that area’s historical seismicity, they add.

Producing reliable earthquake forecasts has a “deeply important and often controversial dimension,” Girona said.

“Accurate forecasting has the potential to save lives and reduce economic losses by providing early warnings that allow for timely evacuations and preparation,” he said. “However, the uncertainty inherent in earthquake forecasting also raises significant ethical and practical questions.”

“False alarms can lead to unnecessary panic, economic disruption, and a loss of public trust, while missed predictions can have catastrophic consequences,” he said.

New research has implications for Fairbanks winter air quality improvement

Ice fog over Fairbanks as seen from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Debby Dean photo

 September 04, 2024 / Rod Boyce

Work led by University of Alaska Fairbanks and Georgia Institute of Technology researchers shows that the effort to improve Fairbanks' wintertime air quality by reducing the amount of primary sulfate in the atmosphere may not be as effective in the deep cold as intended. 

The research is published today in Science Advances, with UAF doctoral student James Campbell as the lead author.

The concern centers on a reduction in acidity, reflected in a higher pH, of fine atmospheric particles in Fairbanks’ typically frigid winters, particularly around 40 below zero Fahrenheit.

“We’re worried that reducing the primary sulfate won’t be enough of emission control, because more secondary sulfate would be formed because of the higher pH,” Campbell said.

Campbell is a graduate student in associate professor Jingqiu Mao’s research group at the UAF Geophysical Institute and studied through the UAF College of Natural Science and Mathematics.

Mao and Georgia Tech professor Rodney Weber oversaw the research.

Other UAF co-authors include professor William Simpson and research assistant Meeta Cesler-Maloney. 

Additional co-authors are from Georgia Tech, Johns Hopkins University, University of Michigan, University of New Hampshire and institutions in France, Switzerland and Greece.

This collaboration has spanned several years and involved state-of-the-art thermodynamic tools used in the majority of the world’s air quality models.

Acidity of atmospheric fine particles is largely controlled by the relative fraction of ammonium and sulfate. Sulfate is highly acidic, while ammonium acts as the base to neutralize it.

Campbell found that reducing primary sulfate makes atmospheric aerosol particles ammonium-dominated rather than sulfate-dominated. That change to ammonia-dominated particles raises the pH level of those particles.

Prior studies have identified residential fuel oil as the main source of sulfate particles in Fairbanks air but did not specify whether it occurred by direct emission from residential heating as primary sulfate or by post-exhaust atmospheric chemical reactions as secondary sulfate.

The state of Alaska required a switch to low-sulfur heating fuel in the portion of Fairbanks with bad air quality, defined as violating federal regulations regarding fine particulate matter, commonly referred to as PM 2.5. Particles of 2.5 micrometers or fewer can cause respiratory illnesses and heart ailments. 

That higher pH from reducing primary sulfate and causing ammonium to be the dominant chemical of the two has a pair of consequences for Fairbanks wintertime air. 

First, it increases formation of secondary sulfate during extremely low temperatures. Such temperatures make particles less acidic, which favors chemical reactions that lead to formation of the secondary sulfate.

Second, the higher pH increases formation of  hydroxymethanesulfonate, or HMS, which was discovered in Fairbanks winter air in 2019. Earlier research found that HMS accounts for a significant portion — 3% to 7% — of the community’s fine particulate pollution. 

Little is known about the direct health effect of HMS on humans. Most of the concern about the compound relates indirectly through its role in air quality and its potential to contribute to atmospheric particulate matter.

Campbell wrote that the temperature effect on particle acidity is most obvious in extreme cold. The substantial HMS formation observed in Fairbanks winters during extreme cold periods “provides clear evidence of it,” he noted.

“This makes mitigation strategies a little more complicated, but hopefully this work will help reduce PM 2.5 pollution here in Fairbanks,” Campbell said.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has put Fairbanks in its “serious” category for air quality violations under the Clean Air Act and has threatened the state with sanctions.

Campbell’s work stems from the 2022 Alaskan Layered Pollution and Chemical Analysis project, or ALPACA, an international project funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and European sources. It is part of an international air quality effort called Pollution in the Arctic: Climate Environment and Societies.

Nearly 50 U.S. and European scientists were in Fairbanks in January and February 2022 for the seven-week study of the chemical interactions that lead to Fairbanks’s air quality problem.

7 years after genocide, plight of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh is exacerbated by camp violence

Hundreds of thousands of minority Muslims fled Myanmar in 2017 amid a government crackdown. Seven years on, they remain in refugee camps.

September 4, 2024
By Nasir Uddin

(The Conversation) — Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya in Bangladesh marked the seven-year anniversary of displacement from their homes in neighboring Myanmar on Aug. 25, 2024. It was a somber occasion for the long-persecuted Myanmarese Muslim minority, who have faced dire living conditions while clustered into the world’s most crowded refugee camps.

Since 2017, their status has been continually challenged by both intermittent hostility from within Bangladesh and an ongoing civil war in Myanmar, during which the military government has continued to crack down on the Rohingya’s homeland in Rakhine state.

But recent events in Bangladesh may offer a glimmer of hope for the Rohingya. Months of political unrest led to the ouster of the authoritarian prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, whose government failed to find a solution to the refugee problem.

The new interim government leader, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, has pledged to defend their rights as refugees and work to secure their eventual repatriation.

As a scholar who has written about the Rohingya crisis and spent time in the refugee camps, I believe the odds are still stacked against the Rohingya. Policymakers must contend not only with growing hostility among Bangladesh’s local population and the ongoing Myanmarese civil war, but also with an underappreciated third factor that challenges a political resolution to the crisis: ongoing and growing violence and infighting among Rohingya refugees.
Murder, rape and kidnapping

More than 750,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar in August 2017 after facing a brutal government crackdown. Since then, around 235 Rohingyas have been killed in refugee camps in Bangladesh. In addition, there have been dozens of cases of rape against Rohingya girls and women and scores of kidnappings recorded by the Bangladeshi authorities.

The killing of high-profile people among the refugee population, including the 2021 assassination of Mohib Ullah, a moderate Rohingya leader, has contributed to spiraling violence in the camp.

Such violence, combined with dire humanitarian conditions, have led to a security vacuum in the camp that has been filled by various Rohingya armed groups, operating with divergent goals and methods but creating something of a turf clash embroiling the refugees living there.

Rohingya refugee children play near a marketplace in the Balukhali refugee camp in Ukhia, Bangladesh.
Munir Uz Zaman/AFP via Getty Images



Armed groups in the camps

Out of 11 known active armed Rohingya groups – some of which were engaged in the insurgency in Rakhine state against Myanmar’s central government prior to crossing the border – five are heavily implicated in violent activities in the camps.

The most prominent of these is the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army. Formed in northern Rakhine state in 2016, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army gained prominence after attacking Myanmar security forces in October 2016 and August 2017, prompting the government crackdowns on, and exodus of, Rohingya.

Government troops killed an estimated 25,000 Rohingyas and forced more than 750,000 from the state in a campaign that led much of the international community to label the violence a genocide.

The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army’s attempt to establish control over the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh has led to a backlash from other groups vying for their own foothold, including the Rohingya Solidarity Organization – a long-dormant group that reemerged in Bangladesh in 2021 with support from Bangladeshi security agencies.

Two other groups with links to drug trafficking and other illegal trade — the formerly Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army-affiliated Master Munna Group and the Nobi Hossain Group, which is nominally aligned with the Rohingya Solidarity Organization — have added to the infighting. Meanwhile, the Islami Mahaj group seeks to recruit members in the camp through its Islamist agenda.

Trafficking and drugs

The displacement of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees has provided criminal groups with opportunities to expand their activities. Since 2017, illegal trade across the Myanmar-Bangladesh border has flourished, as has the flow of arms from Myanmar and India, the smuggling of Yaba pills – a kind of methamphetamine – and other drugs, trafficking of women and children, and the illegal sale of relief goods.

Organizations like the Master Munna and Nobi Hossain groups are involved in racketeering, extortion and smuggling in the refugee camps and clash with each other to establish dominance over territory.

During my fieldwork in the camps, I have observed how panic can engulf refugee populations, especially after high-profile murders, as residents fear reprisal attacks and more clashes between the armed groups. As a result, thousands of Rohingya have frequently relocated their stay from one camp to another in search of safety.
Fighting benefits Myanmar’s military

Alongside the toll this violence takes on the victims, the infighting — and the criminal activities of armed Rohingya groups — exacts a political cost for the refugees.

Myanmar uses the fighting as a pretext to blame Bangladesh for ongoing unrest and to defend its treatment of the Rohingya as a legitimate security rationale. In September 2020, Myanmar’s representatives at the United Nations General Assembly accused Bangladesh’s government of harboring “terrorists,” a contention that Bangladeshi diplomats strongly denied.

The violence has also encouraged hostility among Bangladeshis toward the refugees, who are increasingly perceived as troublemakers and criminals.

Meanwhile, nongovernmental organizations and aid workers have been hampered in their ability to deliver services to refugees and civilians in the camps. And an already weary donor community sees risks in the growing militancy and criminality in the camps.

Old tension takes new shape

Tensions between various Rohingya refugee communities isn’t new. Prior to 2017, there were already problems between those registered with the UN’s refugee agency in Bangladesh and living in official camps, and those who were not registered and living in makeshift camps.

But recently, I have observed open hostility between earlier generations of Rohingya refugees who fled to Bangladesh in 1978 and 1991-1992 and the newcomers from the 2017 exodus. What’s different and particularly alarming now is that these tensions started escalating into deadly violence after 2017.

The violence and killing in the camps involve, by my estimate, roughly 5,000 people. It represents a small fraction of the 1.3 million Rohingya refugees overall – including both those who fled before and during the 2017 exodus. But the actions of this minority have been incredibly damaging for the Rohingya and their future; it jeopardizes vital regional and global support and makes eventual repatriation to Myanmar more uncertain.

The change in government in Bangladesh does offer an opportunity for the Rohingya, especially if the incoming administration sticks by pledges to bolster the country’s judicial institutions and protect minority groups. But unrest in the camps will only add to the problems facing the new government and could undermine support for a solution to the Rohingya crisis.

The fear is it may condemn Bangladesh’s Rohingya minority to many more years in uncertain and increasingly violent conditions.

(Nasir Uddin, Professor of Anthropology, University of Chittagong. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)

Eco-friendly French cargo ship revives sail power

NEW YORK (AFP) – A French ship navigating past New York City to harbour laden with goods under sail might recall a long-forgotten age of wind navigation.

But with the Anemos, the world’s largest cargo sail ship, a French company is seeking to revive the eco-friendly and cost-effective technology to become a regular fixture on the high seas once again.

There has been increased interest in recent years in the use of sail technology to move cargo as fuel costs and environmental concerns have mounted for both shipping companies and consumers.

Anemos completed its inaugural 18-day transatlantic sailing from the French port of Le Havre to the Port of Newark in the United States on Tuesday.

J.D. Vance talking points 'mirror' Russian propaganda in DOJ indictment: ex-FBI agent

Sarah K. Burris
September 4, 2024 

Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) departs from the Senate Chambers during a series of the votes at the U.S. Capitol Building on February 13, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

A new indictment is revealing Russian talking points that one former FBI special agent said look suspiciously similar to Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH).

On Wednesday, the Justice Department announced two employees of Russian state-controlled media funneled nearly $10 million to promoting Russian propaganda, some of which by right-wing influencers.

The promotional materials uncovered in the indictment were talking points for dissemination, which NBC News reporter Ryan Reilly posted on X.


Read Also: Inside J.D. Vance's 'Elegy' grift

Among the points in the exhibits urges "constant lies of the U.S. political party B administration about the real situation in the country."

Another point urges talking about "constant lies to the voters by U.S. political party B in power." And another claims America is "suffering defeat despite Candidate B efforts. We are being drawn into the war. Our guys will die in Ukraine

The DOJ claims "political party B" is the Democratic Party and Candidate B is presumably Joe Biden.

The second section reads, "Target audience of the campaign." It lists "U.S. political party A voters," and "Candidate A supporters."

"Interesting how the 'Campaign Topics' exactly mirror J.D. Vance’s campaign talking points," said ex-FBI special agent Asha Rangappa on X.

See the the exhibits below or at the link here.

Israel nuclear arsenal significant threat to global peace: Iran UN envoy

Sep 4, 2024,

New York, IRNA – Iran’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York Amir Saied Iravani has said that the Israeli regime is threatening other regional countries with nuclear annihilation, and its nuclear arsenal poses a significant threat to both regional and global peace and security.

Iravani made the comment on Wednesday as a addressed the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on the International Day Against Nuclear Tests.

The following is the full text of the Iranian envoy’s speech at the UNGA meeting:

In the Name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful

Mr. President,

Allow me to begin by thanking you for convening this meeting. I would also like to join other delegates in commending Kazakhstan for taking the initiative to promote the International Day against Nuclear Tests.

Indeed, observance of this day is the commemoration of the victims of nuclear tests- the peoples who suffered, is suffering and will continue to suffer due to the enduring effects of radioactive fallout; the peoples most of whom were not the citizens of countries that conducted the nuclear tests.

Celebrating this day also signifies the international community's commitment to protecting the environment from the destructive effects of nuclear tests, many of which have occurred beyond the borders of the countries that conducted them.

Similarly, recognizing this day as an international event reflects the longstanding commitment of the international community to ending nuclear weapon tests, which is essential for achieving a world free of nuclear weapons.

Mr. President,

In commemoration of the International Day against Nuclear Tests, Nuclear-Weapon States (NWSs) should be mainly addressed, as they possess the capability to conduct such tests, with approximately 2,000 tests carried out since 1945, including 1,054 by the US alone.

At a time when all nuclear-armed states are planning to modernize, upgrade, or extend the life of their nuclear weapons and facilities, as well as develop new easy-to-use nuclear weapons, ending nuclear weapon testing is of outmost importance.

To that end, Nuclear-Weapon States have the primary responsibility. They need to adopt practical measures to stop all kinds of nuclear weapon tests. In 2000 NPT Review Conference the Nuclear Weapon States committed themselves to sign and ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) without delay as one of the 13 practical steps in implementing the Article VI of the NPT.

Nuclear-Weapon States (NWSs) hold the primary responsibility for the entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) and should take the lead in this effort. The ratification of the CTBT by NWSs would be a significant step toward rebuilding the confidence of Non-Nuclear Weapon States (NNWSs) and the international community.

Current situation testifies that, no matter how important the voluntary moratoria on nuclear tests are, they cannot substitute for a comprehensive universal and verifiable legally-binding prohibition on all types of nuclear explosions, including in alternative ways.

Mr. President,

Commemoration of this day is also an opportunity for international community to make Israeli regime promptly accede to the NPT without any precondition and to place all of its nuclear facilities under the full-scope IAEA safeguards. The current situation is alarming, as the Israeli regime is threatening other regional countries with nuclear annihilation, and its nuclear arsenal poses a significant threat to both regional and global peace and security.

Mr. President,

By observing this day, we should also renew our commitment to the noble goal of the total elimination of nuclear weapons- the only absolute guarantee against the threat or use of these inhumane weapons.

As a signatory to the CTBT, the Islamic Republic of Iran considers this treaty a step toward nuclear disarmament, and in this context, believes it cannot substitute for the total elimination of nuclear weapons. Consequently, nuclear disarmament must remain a top priority for the international community, and all forms of nuclear testing must be unequivocally prohibited. Such tests contradict both the letter and spirit of the CTBT and, more importantly, violate the legal obligations of the Nuclear-Weapon States under Article VI of the NPT.

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The war on Palestine within U.S. education isn’t just happening in colleges, but in K-12 schools as well

K-12 educators around the U.S. who show support for Palestine have been targeted with false charges of antisemitism and have faced a clear pattern of punishment without due process based on disturbing double standards.

By Mimi Kirk

September 4, 2024 
MONDOWEISS

Artwork created in solidarity with Palestine by Oakland High students posted in school hallways in the spring of 2024. (Photo: Oakland Education Association for Palestine Group via Rethinking Schools)


In a May 2024 congressional hearing, the Committee on Education and the Workforce questioned leaders of three public school districts: New York City; the Washington, DC suburbs of Montgomery County, Maryland; and Berkeley, California. Similar to earlier hearings that cross-examined the presidents of Harvard, Penn, MIT, and Columbia, the event was premised on “pervasive antisemitism” in U.S. education and a demand for accountability from its leaders.

As NPR reported, the K-12 hearing did not net the “headline moments” that lawmakers enjoyed with the university presidents, which saw the leaders struggle to answer questions and which helped bring about the resignation of three of them. Yet despite the lower profile of K-12 education in the current controversy over pro-Palestine speech in the wake of Hamas’s attack on Israel, teachers are being punished for expressing what the lawmakers maintain is antisemitic rhetoric that makes Jewish students and fellow teachers “unsafe.”

But are the teachers actually antisemitic, as the lawmakers would have us believe? And whose safety is in fact in question? A deeper look into the allegations demonstrates a problematic definition of antisemitism and a tendency to punish immediately, without due process, analysis, or care.


Aaron Bean (R-FL) kicked off the hearing’s questioning by asking the school officials a series of “yes or no” questions, including “Does Israel have the right to exist as a Jewish state?” and “Does the phrase, ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’ – is that antisemitic?” The officials replied in the affirmative. As such, the event immediately took as a given the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)’s definition of antisemitism, which claims that it is antisemitic to “deny the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist behavior.”

The IHRA definition, which is at present legally nonbinding but under consideration as a bill in the Senate after being passed in the House, as well as touted by the U.S. State Department, has been criticized for being weaponized as a tool to suppress critics of the state of Israel by equating anti-Zionism with antisemitism. Even the lead drafter of the definition, Kenneth Stern, has decried this weaponized use of his work.

Several cases of teachers “teaching hate” were referenced during the hearing, and the school officials asked about actions taken to punish these employees. Representative Elise Stefanik (R-NY), for instance, questioned Chancellor of New York City Public Schools David Banks about Mohammad Ahmad, a math teacher at Gotham Tech High School in Queens who on October 7 posted an image of a paraglider to his social media with the line, “I stand with Palestine.” Stefanik held up a copy of the image, proclaiming, “This is a Hamas paraglider who slaughtered Jews. We all have seen the horrific footage, who cooked babies! These are terrorists!”

It must first be noted that Stefanik’s reference to cooking babies is one of many regarding Hamas violence against women and children on October 7 that have been debunked. And while Ahmad may have posted the image to his personal social media, his superior did not defend his right to do so or question Stefanik’s one-dimensional interpretation.

“I think what that employee did was absolutely disgusting and we took action,” Chancellor David Banks replied.

Ahmad had posted the image to his private Facebook page after hearing about the armed resistance forces breaking out of Gaza. “We heard how many military bases they took, and we didn’t know anything else,” he told me. Though he subsequently took down the image, because it had been his “cover” photo, it remained in feeds. The New York Post, Fox News, and the Daily Mail published stories about it and other anti-Zionist opinions Ahmad posted.

“My family received death threats and phone calls in the middle of the night,” Ahmad says. He was doxed, and an employee from the right-wing outfit Accuracy in Media came to his home. A disciplinary letter from New York City Public Schools was put in his file. In contrast, a teacher at another Queens public high school posted an image of herself at a rally with the sign, “I stand with Israel.” When students at her school protested in the halls, calling for her to be fired, the school held a press conference in which students apologized. She was also given a union escort to accompany her to class.

“I post something and I receive a disciplinary letter, and a Zionist teacher called in sick to attend a rally, which is a breach of contract,” says Ahmad. “I’m not saying I want a press conference or an escort, but you see the difference in how we were treated.”

In November 2023 in Montgomery County, Maryland, middle school math teacher Hajur El-Haggan was put on administrative leave for having “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” in her internal, staff-facing email signature. She has since been moved to another school.

A few days before El-Haggan found out she was being put on leave, her car was vandalized in the school parking lot. In October 2023 she had placed a Palestinian flag embroidered with “Free Palestine” on the windshield. “I walked out to my car ready to go home and I noticed that my flag was no longer on my car,” she says. “I saw that there were plastic remains of it on the top of my sunroof; someone had slashed it off my car. I felt very unsafe.”

El-Haggan notes that many fellow teachers have “Black Lives Matter” or text supporting LGBTQ+ rights in their internal email signatures. “If my signature was any other quote, this would not have happened to me,” she says, adding that the phrase must be understood as a call for equal rights for all. “It’s a call for freedom from one body of water to the other body of water in historic Palestine,” she explains. “It wants everyone in that land to be free.”

El-Haggan is filing a lawsuit against the Montgomery County Board of Education with two other teachers who have been punished for privately expressed pro-Palestinian views, including middle school English teacher Angela Wolf. Wolf was also put on leave and then moved to another school for posts on her personal Facebook page critical of Israel, such as condemnation of Israel’s bombing of al-Shifa Hospital. She was also attacked for a post from 2020 on a private teachers’ page in which she criticized Montgomery County billionaires for not doing enough to help students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I was angry because teachers were running around like crazy using their own funds to try to help students and their families and here are five billionaires who live in the county,” she says. “I named them and I called them thieves.” Not all of the billionaires were Jewish, but Wolf was accused of using an antisemitic trope.

“It didn’t even register that some of them were Jewish,” Wolf says. “I could immediately see that the interest is not in rooting out actual antisemitism; this is political and there’s a real effort to make sure criticism of Israel is silenced.”

One need only listen to the beginning of the Committee on Education and the Workforce hearing and look into Committee lawmakers’ records to confirm Wolf’s opinion. Before questioning began, Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) recounted antisemitic statements by former president Donald Trump, including one in which he said that Hitler had “done some good things.”

“Despite these persistent examples of comments that others have called antisemitic, and continued relationships with well-known antisemites, I have not heard one word of concern from my colleagues across the aisle,” Bonamici said. “In fact, what we have seen is consolidation of support for the former president.” When Bonamici then asked the lawmakers present to condemn Trump’s previous comments, there was silence. “Let the record show that no one spoke up,” she said.

Moreover, analysts and officials have pointed to Elise Stefanik’s passionate support for Trump as well as her own proclivity to traffic in antisemitic tropes, such as the great replacement theory – the idea that Jewish and other elites are bringing immigrants to the country to change its demographic makeup.

As the Middle East Studies Association pointed out in response to the Committee’s questioning of the university presidents, “the framing and content of these hearings make it clear that many committee members are less concerned with combatting invidious discrimination than with suppressing and punishing pro-Palestine speech” as well as using the opportunity to further their own agenda of cracking down on progressive education more broadly. Aaron Bean’s voting record, for instance, shows his support for empowering (conservative) parents to have more of a say in school curricula and the books school libraries contain.

This craven weaponization of antisemitism in the Congressional hearings and beyond peddles the idea of “Jewish safety,” despite the fact that many Jewish students and teachers are anti-Zionist and have been extremely active in and even spearheading the protests on college campuses and elsewhere that have swept the United States over the past months. It is in fact Palestinians and their allies who are on the whole facing doxing, harassment, and being made to feel – and be – unsafe. Mohammed Ahmad and Hajur El-Haggan can attest to that. As Chris Godshall-Bennett, Legal Director at the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, says, “Jewish students deserve to be safe, but not at the expense of someone else.”

Such performative hand wringing about antisemitism serves to distract not only from actual antisemitism in the United States perpetuated by white supremacists and Christian nationalists but, crucially, what is occurring on the ground in Gaza, namely a genocide being live-streamed on our phones and funded by our tax dollars. K-12 education ended for Palestinian children on October 7 and, as of this writing, nearly 17,000 have been killed by Israeli bombs, starvation, and disease. The most unsafe place in the world is the Gaza Strip. This is what should concern us, and those who call attention to it should be heeded rather than punished.

Britain defends Israeli weapons export ban as Europe mulls sanctions

September 04, 2024

VOA

By Henry Ridgwell


Israel supporters demonstrate outside Britain's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in London, Sept. 3, 2024, following the government's announcement that it would suspend some arms exports to Israel.

London —

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer defended his government’s decision to suspend some arms shipments to Israel Wednesday, saying the move was necessary to comply with international law.

“We absolutely recognize and support Israel’s right to self-defense and have taken action in support of that right of self-defense. ... But in relation to licenses, this isn't an Israel issue. It's the framework for all licenses that have to be kept under review,” he said.

“We either comply with international law or we don’t. We only have strength in our arguments because we comply with international law,” Starmer told lawmakers in Parliament.

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks during Prime Minister's Questions at the House of Commons in London, Sept. 4, 2024.

Israel has strongly criticized the move and said it would only serve to strengthen Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. Israel invaded the Palestinian territory after Hamas militants killed more than 1,200 people and took 253 hostages in a cross-border terror attack on October 7.

Britain on Monday suspended around 30 of the 350 licenses for weapons exports to Israel after a legal review. Foreign Secretary David Lammy made the announcement in parliament on Monday.

“The assessment I have received leaves me unable to conclude anything other than that for certain U.K. arms exports to Israel, there does exist a clear risk that they might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law,” Lammy told lawmakers, adding that the export bans include “equipment that we assess is for use in the current conflict in Gaza, such as important components which go into military aircraft, including fighter aircraft, helicopters and drones, as well as items which facilitate ground targeting.”

SEE ALSO:
Britain suspends some arms exports to Israel over risk of breaking law

The British move will have little impact on the Israel Defense Forces’ operations, said Middle East analyst Yossi Mekelberg of the London-based policy institute Chatham House. “Most of Israel's weapons and ammunition come actually from the United States and Germany. It amounts to nearly 99% of the arms supplied to Israel.”

But the symbolism of Britain’s move is significant, Mekelberg said.

“Suspension sends a clear message that you can be a friend of Israel, you can support Israel — including Labour [the ruling party] — supportive of Israel, especially after October 7, and rightly so. But at the same time to disagree fundamentally with the way Israel conducts the war and how it uses weapons,” he said.

“I think we can start seeing a change [in Britain’s approach], and I think what some of us wonder is if it will go as far as recognizing a Palestinian statehood. This probably would be the biggest step forward,” Mekelberg said.

Andreas Krieg, a fellow of the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies at Kings College London, said the political impact of the export ban would outweigh the practical implications.

“The U.K. might not be the strongest hard power in the Middle East, but it has significant soft power and influence. It shows that for the very first time that a very close partner and ally of Israel doesn't trust the Israeli government, when they're saying that they are complying with the laws of armed conflict,” Krieg told VOA.

“The fact that the U.K. is now saying that there are potential doubts is casting bigger doubts over Israel's campaign and the complicity of other countries as well, including Germany and the United States, in aiding and supporting Israel's campaign, particularly in Gaza, but also potentially in the West Bank,” he said.

“Other European countries might want to now revisit their arms export licenses and to what extent their weapons are being used in what could be seen as an illegal war, a partially illegal war in Gaza,” Krieg said.

Washington paused the export of large 1-ton bombs to Israel in May over concerns that they could be used in a ground invasion of the city of Rafah but has continued to supply billions of dollars’ worth of other weapons.

SEE ALSO:
US withholds weapons as Israel launches operation in Rafah

Germany, which supplies about 39% of Israel’s arms imports, has not said it plans to suspend any arms shipments.

Israel strongly denies breaking international law in Gaza and claims it targets only Hamas militants, whom it accuses of hiding in schools, hospitals and mosques and using human shields.

Critics accuse the Israel Defense Forces of conducting indiscriminate attacks against the civilian population and targeting basic infrastructure. The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza says more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed since the Israeli operation began, most of them women and children. Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been forced to flee their homes.

The Israeli military says the death toll includes several thousand Hamas combatants. The U.S., the U.K. and other Western countries designate Hamas as a terror group.

Writing on the social media platform X, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strongly criticized Britain’s move to ban some arms exports.

“Days after Hamas executed six Israeli hostages, the UK government suspended thirty arms licenses to Israel. This shameful decision will not change Israel's determination to defeat Hamas, a genocidal terrorist organization that savagely murdered 1,200 people on October 7, including 14 British citizens.”

“Hamas is still holding over 100 hostages, including 5 British citizens. Instead of standing with Israel, a fellow democracy defending itself against barbarism, Britain’s misguided decision will only embolden Hamas. Israel is pursuing a just war with just means, taking unprecedented measures to keep civilians out of harm’s way and comporting fully with international law,” Netanyahu wrote on Tuesday.

In recent days, tens of thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets of Tel Aviv to protest Netanyahu’s handling of the war in Gaza and the failure to secure the release of the remaining hostages.

Demonstrators light pink flares and raise placards during a protest calling for action to secure the release of Israeli hostages held captive since the October 7 attacks led by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, in front of the Israeli Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv on Sept. 4, 2024.

“I think there's a growing divide between the Israeli public and Israeli national interest, and the Netanyahu government. So, siding or moving against the Netanyahu government is now seen less and less so as moving against Israel as a whole, or the Israeli public,” said analyst Andreas Krieg.

Meanwhile the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell last week proposed sanctioning two unnamed Israeli government ministers, accusing them of having a “colonial agenda” in the occupied West Bank. Israel is conducting an ongoing raid against militants in the territory, focused on refugee camps in Jenin and Tulkarem. Israeli settlers are accused of forcibly seizing Palestinian land in the West Bank with the support of the IDF, which Israel denies.

“We are … witnessing a formal radicalization on the part of some members of the Israeli far-right for whom Gaza has always been a minor issue compared with the West Bank and Jerusalem. Maybe, they don't care about the settlements in Gaza, since any return to calm would make it more difficult to pursue the colonial agenda they have for the West Bank, the expansion of the colonies,” Borrell told reporters in Brussels on August 29.

Any decision on sanctioning Israeli ministers would require unanimity among EU member states. Borrell said that threshold had not been met.

Dangerous new coronavirus is one of more than 30 pathogens found in new study of Chinese fur farms

By Sarah Newey
Daily Telegraph UK·
4 Sep, 2024 


HKU5, a concerning new bat coronavirus, was discovered in the lungs and intestines of mink which had died from pneumonia. Photo / 123RF

A concerning new bat coronavirus is among 36 novel viruses detected among animals including racoon dogs, mink and guinea pigs in Chinese fur farms, scientists have warned.

The results, published in Nature journal this week, reiterate the risk posed by small-scale fur farms, which continue to proliferate in China and Southeast Asia. It also expands the list of animals known to be susceptible to zoonotic pathogens, including novel coronaviruses, bird flu and Japanese encephalitis.

“Fur farms represent a far richer zoonotic soup than we thought,” said Professor Eddie Holmes, an evolutionary biologist and virologist at the University of Sydney. He co-authored the report alongside colleagues in China.

The researchers not only looked at commonly farmed and studied animals (such as mink, muskrats, foxes and raccoon dogs), but also species including guinea pigs and deer. These are less intensely farmed but remain commonplace in smaller backyard farms across China, and have rarely been the subject of disease surveillance efforts.

“What [the study] tells you is that these species are also full of viruses, and some of these viruses are jumping species boundaries … which is a real worry,” Holmes said. “I think that this [fur] trade is a roll of the dice. We’re exposing ourselves to viruses that come from wildlife, which is an obvious route [for the] next pandemic to occur.”

The team of researchers sequenced samples from 461 animals from fur farms, mostly in northeastern China. All had died after suffering from disease. The scientists identified 125 different virus species, including 36 new pathogens.

Of the viruses detected, 39 were deemed to have high spillover potential because they were “generalists” spotted in a diversity of animals.

The team also detected seven coronaviruses, with the original hosts traced to rodents, rabbits and canines. Though none were closely related to Sars-Cov-2, a concerning new bat coronavirus was discovered. Called HKU5, it was found in the lungs and intestines of mink which had died from a pneumonia outbreak on a fur farm

Denmark culled five million farmed mink in 2020 after the animals were found to harbour a mutated strain of Covid-19. Photo / 123RF

HKU5 ‘is a red flag’

“The question always is, can we work out what sorts of viruses we should worry most about, which are most likely to emerge [in humans]? It’s very hard to say, but if viruses are able to jump big evolutionary distances, it suggests they can replicate in different cell types. That is a risk,” said Dr Holmes.

“HKU5 needs to go on a watchlist immediately. It is absolutely a red flag,” he added, calling for more rigorous surveillance of fur farms inside China and across the globe.

Linfa Wang, director of the Emerging Infectious Diseases Research Programme at Singapore’s Duke-NUS Medical School, who was not involved in the study, said he agreed that HKU5 was a red flag, but that “we need more data from lab-based infection studies to corroborate this”.

Scientists have long been concerned that mink farms could provide fertile ground for viruses to mutate, as the animals are susceptible to many of the same viruses as humans.

In autumn 2020, Denmark culled its entire population of farmed mink – some five million animals – after a Covid-19 jumped from humans to mink, mutated, and then re-infected humans with a new strain. There was also alarm in Spain in 2022, when avian influenza was reported in a mink farm in the country’s northwest.

In the latest study, scientists also found mink infected with two H5N6 bird flu viruses – while guinea pigs had H1N2 and H6N2 was found in a muskrat.


“We know from European outbreaks that these [fur] farms can extremely easily get infected from wild birds,” said Dr Thomas Peacock, a virologist and fellow at the Pirbright Institute, who was not involved in the study but has previously called for the closure of fur farms worldwide.

“China, at least in recent history, has had a far greater diversity of avian influenza viruses which are considered to have pandemic potential than Europe, so any risk from Europe is multiplied by the situation in China.”

He added that the latest research reiterates the biosecurity risks posed by fur farms, and called for greater surveillance of the pathogens spreading inside them.

“This is very much a peeking under the lid of a massive industry,” Peacock told the Daily Telegraph. “The conclusions aren’t specifically ‘virus x was found in mink or raccoon dogs and therefore is a direct singular pandemic threat’, but more this practise seems to bring lots of divergent, unusual viruses together from wildlife/farmed sources which creates a mixing pot for virus evolution and emergence.”


JiaZhen Lim, a PhD student at the University of Hong Kong’s State Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases who was not involved in the study, agreed: “I think the key takeaway is just that there are more viruses in the farmed animals than we previously knew, and some of [them] have the cross-species infection potential.”

The study did not put the findings in the context of the origins of Covid-19 – partly because the researchers did not find pathogens closely related to Sars-Cov-2, but also because the Chinese Government has largely blocked scientists in the country from exploring or discussing anything relating to how the pandemic may have started.

The debate about how Covid-19 first jumped to humans remains ongoing. Many scientists say available evidence points towards the pathogen jumping from bats to humans via an intermediate animal in the wildlife trade; others continue to speculate it leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan.

But Wang, who played a key role in the work that traced Sars-1 back to bats, said the new research highlights the dangers of zoonotic spillover.

“These findings are significant and add further confirmation that animals are the most dangerous source of future viral disease emergence,” he told the Telegraph.

“Although the paper does not address the origin of SARS-CoV-2, it independently demonstrated that the risk of new viruses emerging from animal sources is MUCH higher than any other potential sources. Nature is much better in making new viruses of all kinds than humans.”


Holmes also said that fur farms present a “clear epidemic or pandemic risk”.

“In these locations, farmed animals act as a bridge [for diseases to spread] between wildlife to people or livestock,” he said. He added that “at the very least”, there needs to be “expanded surveillance of animals and humans working in this trade, and globally, not just in China”.