[photo via X]

Armed colonists burn, beat, and kill with near-total impunity – because their violence serves a larger system of land theft and expulsion

April 29, 2026, RT.com

-Eva Karene Bartlett

*Republished version longer than originally published

Almost daily, there are updates on brutal attacks by armed settlers – really, colonists – against Palestinians. The colonists shoot or ferociously beat—sometimes to the point of muder—Palestinian civilians, male and female, young and old, including entire families.

These attacks have been occurring for decades. I’ve written about them many times, including what I saw in different regions of the West Bank during my eight months there in 2007. Back then, the violence of the colonists was already horrific. Now, the attacks are exponentially more frequent. The end goal is clear – drive the Palestinians permanently off their own land.

While many rightly note the increase of such attacks since 2023, and even more so following the Israeli-US attack on Iran, the drastic increase in colonist attacks began in 2021 and has continued to increase up to the present.

In November 2021, the Israeli publication Haaretz noted a 150% rise in settler attacks from 2019. A United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) report posted in September 2023 likewise showed an increase in attacks from 2021 and throughout 2022. It noted, “Three settler related incidents per day occurred on average in the first eight months of 2023 compared to an average of two per day in 2022 and one per day the year before. This is the highest daily average of settler-related incidents affecting Palestinians since the UN started recording this data in 2006.”

The independent human rights organization and legal center Adalah reported in October 2023 on new regulations passed by the Israeli Knesset enabling still more Jewish Israelis to acquire and carry guns, an initiative put forth by National Security Minister Ben-Gvir. This is on top of the fact that illegal Jewish colonists have already carried and used guns against Palestinian civilians for decades.

Adalah noted, “By labeling Palestinians as ‘enemies’, Ben-Gvir, who does not conceal his racist views towards Palestinians, seeks to legitimize the blanket impunity granted to both Israel’s armed forces and ruthless Jewish-Israeli vigilantes for killing and injuring Palestinians.”

Arson crimes committed by colonists in recent months include setting fire to homes and vehicles in the southern community of Susiya; to homes in the Jenin region; setting fire to and burning the emergency room of a Palestinian Medical Relief clinic in the Nablus area; torching homes and vehicles in Tayasir village east of Tubas (and slashing open the forehead of a Palestinian resident) – to list just a handful of cases. Back in 2014, colonists kidnapped and deliberately burned a young teenager alive. In 2015, they 
firebombed a Palestinian home and burned to death a year-old infant inside.

In February, The Cradle reported that Israel’s internal security agency, the Shin Bet, downgraded attacks by Israeli colonists against Palestinian civilians from ‘terror attacks’ to ‘serious incidents’, meaning most crimes, including the arson attacks, are only recorded as “serious incidents.”

In March, swarms of Israeli colonists raided Palestinian villages near an illegal colony between Nablus and Jenin, setting homes, vehicles, and property ablaze, according to Palestinians from the region who also said Israeli forces prevented the entry of firefighters and ambulances.

“Israeli forces’ jeeps came with the settlers. Israeli forces chased people and opend fire on them to ensure they couldn’t fight off the settlers,” an older resident testified.

From inside his burnt-out house, another man said, “The settlers surrounded the house, burned it by throwing Molotov cocktails. Israeli forces were nearby, a drone was filming. This went on for 30 minutes. I was on the roof with my children, under attack, while the house was burning.”

Israeli NGO Yesh Din noted in January 2026, “Ideologically motivated violence by Israeli citizens against Palestinians has reached a record high over the past two years; attacks against Palestinians and their property, some deadly, throughout the West Bank now occur daily.”

Since 2005, the organization has been documenting offenses committed by Israeli civilians, settlers, and others, against Palestinians in the West Bank. They noted, “Over twenty years of monitoring of the outcomes of investigations into ideologically motivated crime against Palestinians reveals that the State of Israel breaches its obligation under both Israeli and international law to protect Palestinians in the West Bank from harm.”

According to Yesh Din, since 2005, only 3% of the investigation files opened into such crimes against Palestinians led to full or partial convictions. They rightly maintain that this isn’t mere oversight, but rather “evidence that Israel intentionally enables the violence perpetrated against defenseless civilians.”

By mid-April, Yesh Din reported 378 incidents of “extremist settler violence against Palestinians and their property in the West Bank,” resulting in eight Palestinians shot dead and 200 injured by colonists during the 40 days of the US-Israeli bombardment of Iran alone.

Masafer Yatta: One region under sustained colonist attacks

I spent several months in the village of Susiya, in the Masafer Yatta region in South Hebron Hills, back in 2007. The tent settlement (an inadequate ramshackle replacement for the homes Palestinians were unjustly evicted from in the ’80s and ’90s) was constantly under attack from both Israeli settlers and soldiers. One of the elderly Palestinian grandfathers had been brutally beaten by a gang of seven in 2006, the attackers badly injuring his leg. In 2008, he and his wife were again savagely attacked and beaten by colonists, his wife hospitalized for several days as a result. The assailants were caught on video but were never held accountable.

Back then, we observed colonists stealing the farmland of elderly Palestinian deed-holders, colonists costantly harassing and attacking the Susya Palestinians, and Israeli military and police doing nothing to prevent the attacks.

Fast forward to recent years, the colonists are more brazen and brutal, the army and police more complicit.

Palestinian activists from the region have filmed some of the extremely violent attacks. In July 2025, a gun-wielding colonist was filmed shooting wildly at Palestinians. Were the situation reversed, the shooter would be dead or rotting, tortured, in an Israeli prison.

In February 2026, footage shows what locals said were more than 30 armed colonists carrying out a coordinated, attack on Palestinian families in Susiya, “throwing explosives at a home with a family inside, and smashing security cameras with stones to hide the crime.”

In April, colonist soldiers were filmed brutally attacking a Palestinian man at gunpoint. A local activist wrote, “What is happening in my community is not random, it is part of a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing. We are facing violence not only from settlers, but from a regime that enables and protects them.”

Recently, I spoke with him about these attacks in his region. He detailed example after example of Israeli soldier and police complicity while the illegal colonists repeatedly attack, maiming or killing.

It is undeniable such attacks are an unofficial policy for Israeli illegal expansionism, as Yesh Din noted in January 2026, stating, “settler violence serves Israel’s objectives to expand its control over the occupied territory by terrorizing and exercising violence against Palestinians.”

The 2021 Haaretz article also cited a senior Israeli security figure saying, “These are not attacks by bored children. You have to call things by their name. In some of the cases it’s simply Jewish terrorism.”

Complete impunity

In April 2026, Haaretz, published an article about how Palestinians who were being endlessly abused by illegal, armed, Jewish settlers’ violent incursions filed a complaint against the colonists, including with video footage of their car. He was detained and released the same day.

The next time the same Palestinians called the police when the same colonists invaded their land, the Israeli police arrested them under the pretext of allegedly “throwing stones” at the colonists. One of the Palestinians was beaten by Israeli soldiers who extinguished cigarettes on his wrist. He was interrogated about having the audacity to film the invading colonists.

Palestinian Christian human rights advocate Ihab Hassan, in an April 2026 post about Israeli colonist attacks, noted, “If a Palestinian tries to defend his home from these terrorists, he will be killed or imprisoned for life. If settlers shoot and kill Palestinians in their own homes, nothing will happen to them. What should we call a system that punishes victims and grants criminals full impunity based on religion, race, and nationality?”

Indeed, in April, Israeli human rights NGO B’Tselem reported on an Israeli colonist invasion of a Palestinian village “as part of ongoing efforts to take it over,” noting, “Residents who tried to fend them off with stones came under heavy fire from a settler on military reserve duty who joined his friends as reinforcement. One of the bullets fatally hit Ali Hamadneh, 23, in the back while he was running away and posed no danger, as is evident in footage of the incident.”

B’Tselem noted that the Israeli army spokesperson later claimed that a reservist soldier carried out a “suspect-arrest procedure that included firing in the air and then firing at one of the stone-throwers.”

In March, after an Israeli colonist ran over a five year old Palestinian child, seriously injuring her, police then detained three solidarity activists, not arresting the colonist who had hit the girl.

‘Abuse’

Recently, the Italian magazine L’Espresso published a disturbing cover photo featuring a sneering Israeli colonist-soldier taunting a Palestinian woman. Aptly titled ‘Abuse’, the image was widely shared on X, sending indignant Israeli propagandists into overdrive. They tried to claim the image was fake, but that matter was settled when L’Espresso released the accompanying video of the soldier menacing the woman.

The Israeli ambassador to Italy claimed the photo was “anti-Semitic.” This claim was widely contested with still further examples of crazed-looking Jewish colonists harassing Palestinian civilians.

For Palestinians who have been enduring the hateful, often deadly, settler attacks for decades, it is good that the wider world is finally becoming aware of both the settlers’ crimes and the Israeli police and army’s complicity. But awareness isn’t enough. Israel will never hold them accountable, much less stop them. They do the dirty work of Israeli expansionism.

In January 2026, Munther Isaac, a Palestinian Evangelical Lutheran pastor in Ramallah and director of the Bethlehem Institute for Peace and Justice, posted, “Yesterday, Zionist settler thugs attacked the village of Birzeit, near Ramallah… When one woman from the village dared to shout at them and confront them, the settlers attacked her.” The woman ended up in intensive care and was eventually stabilized. But, according to Isaac, instead of arresting the attackers, Israeli forces arrested her son, who tried to defend his mother.

Isaac then writes: “Let us call this what it is: Zionist terrorism. The problem is not only the settlers. The problem is the system that empowers them. The problem is the immunity they enjoy. Lord, have mercy.”

He is correct. It is the system which enables and encourages illegal Israeli colonists to attack, maim, and kill Palestinian civilians. The question is when, or if, these criminals will ever be stopped, much less held to justice.

Updates:

-On April 21, Israeli colonists killed a 13-year-old student and man in attack on a West Bank school, injuring four others.

-RT: “The West Bank Protection Consortium reports that not only Israeli soldiers but also illegal Jewish colonists are systematically committing sexual violence against Palestinians as a furhter means of forcing them from their homes. The assaults include, ‘forced nudity, invasive body cavity searches, exposure of genitals to minors, and threats of rape.” The report notes that, “settler abuse often takes place in the presence of Israeli forces, who do not intervene or effectively investigate those responsible.’

This should come as no suprise from a country that not only rapes Palestinian hostages, but whose populace protestsed for the right to rape Palestinian prisoners, and who cheered on liyteral rapists of a Palestinian prisoner shown in leaked footage.”

-On April 27, Mint Press News posted: “Israeli Settlers Set Fire To Palestinian Homes While Families Are Still Inside This attack occurred in the village of Jalud, in the occupied West Bank.”

Some Of My Related Writings/Posts:

–MY ENTRIES FROM OCCUPIED PALESTINE [APR-DEC 2007]

–Illegal Jewish Colonists Stealing Palestinian Land in Susiya (2007)

–Illegal colonists assault Palestinian farmers & me (2007)

-Israeli settlers attack Palestinians, steal land with impunity. Imagine outrage & calls for sanctions if any other state did it,April 16, 2021, RT.com (In Gaza)

-Interview: Illegal Jewish colonists terrorize, maim & kill Palestinian civilians, never facing any consequences

The brutal attacks by illegal Jewish colonists on Palestinian civilians have been largely ignored by corporate media and have been occurring for decades. But since 2023, they have ramped up exponentially, with crazed colonists (often escorted by Israeli soldiers) killing and maiming Palestinians, no matter whether they are elderly or children, burning their homes and cars, and continuing to steal still more Palestinian homes and land.

I spoke with activist and journalist, Mohammad Huraini, about these attacks in his region, Masafer Yatta, a region I spent several months in back in 2007.

You can follow his courageous work on X: https://x.com/MohammadHuraini

Please consider supporting his fundraising campaign, so he can continue his much-needed documentation of these ongoing crimes.

My related links:

–Illegal Jewish colonists are stealing Palestinian land in Susiya

–Illegal Jewish colonists attack Palestinian grandfather in Susiya

–Susiya: a Palestinian region attacked by illegal Jewish colonists

-More Susiya entries

–Illegal Israeli colonists assault Palestinian farmers & me

–Israeli illegal colonists attack Palestinians, steal land with impunity. Imagine outrage & calls for sanctions if any other state did it

The non-reaction to an RT reporter’s narrow escape from an Israeli missile strike underscores the selective outrage of Western media

March 21, 2026, RT.com

-by Eva Karene Bartlett

On 19 March 2026, RT war correspondent Steve Sweeney and his cameraman Ali Rida Sbeity were injured by an Israeli targeted missile strike metres from where they stood in southern Lebanon.
Sweeney was on camera reporting on recent Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanese towns and infrastructure when he heard the unmistable sound of an incoming missile. Ducking and running, he escaped the missile impact just metres from where he and Sbeity stood.

Sweeney was on camera reporting on recent Israeli attacks on southern Lebanese towns and infrastructure when he heard the sound of an incoming projectile. Ducking and running, he managed to escape the brunt of the impact.

According to the journalists, an Israeli aircraft fired a missile at their filming position near Al-Qasmiya Bridge, where Sweeney was reporting on, “the targeting of bridges and the forced displacement of one million people, an ethnic cleansing operation on a larger scale than the Nakba,” as he later stated, referencing the violent displacement of Palestinians which accompanied the creation of the Jewish State in the late 1940s.

The men were treated for shrapnel injuries. Sweeney said, adding “I’m amazed that we survived. We were incredibly lucky to come away with the injuries we did.”

Just a day prior, Sweeney had posted on X about the Israeli targeted airstrike on Lebanese journalist and Al-Manar TV presenter Mohammad Sherri and his wife. Both were killed. Sweeney reposted the news with the words, “Targeting journalists is a war crime.”

The next day, he himself was targeted.

This deliberate targeting of journalists wearing press vests is another Israeli war crime, in a long list of Israeli war crimes which include killing at least 261 Palestinian journalists in Gaza in the past two years alone, as well as previously killing Lebanese journalists and bombing Iranian media repeatedly.

Targeted assassinations of journalists by the Israeli army are not new. Back in 2008, Fadel Shana, a Reuters cameraman in Gaza, was killed by a flechette shell fired by an Israeli tank as he worked.

In January 2009, I was in media building and had just given an interview to RT on what I was seeing on the ground during the 3 week (Dec 2008/Jan 2009) Israeli war on Gaza. The building came under Israeli attack while we were on the 10th floor, with 7 shells from Israeli tanks east of Gaza. Thankfully, no one was killed.

But in subsequent years, the Israeli army repeatedly bombed key media buildings in Gaza, ultimately destroying them along with most of the Gaza Strip during the ongoing Israeli genocide.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Israel was responsible for two-thirds of all press killings globally in both 2025 and 2024. CPJ notes that the Israeli army has committed more targeted killings of journalists than any other government’s military since the CPJ began documentation in 1992.

Russian condemnation, British silence

RT Editor in Chief Margarita Simonyan posted on X about the targeted attack, clearly stating the journalists had been targeted by an Israeli strike and stating, “War journalists are not legitimate targets.”

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova highlighted that in no way could the strike be considered accidental, particularly given, “the rocket did not hit an ‘important strategic military target’, but the location of the report.”

While Western media is always quick to highlight claims of legacy media journalists in danger, no matter how staged it appears to be, when it comes to journalists actually under attack the outrage is selective.

Although the attack on Sweeney and Sbeity was filmed on camera in broad daylight, with Israel virtually the only possible culprit, British media in particular have been disinterested. The BBC’s report ran with the headline, “Missile lands next to presenter during live report from Lebanon.” Barely noticeable in small print many lines later, the BBC mentions the “ongoing Israeli air strikes and ground operations in southern Lebanon.”

The BBC listing an experienced war correspondent as a “presenter” was also not accidental. The overall flippant tone of their report was to insinuate a minor incident had occurred, the missile’s origin unknown.

Other media followed suit, including The Independent, which didn’t even mention, not even in small print, Israeli bombings of Lebanon.

As for the British government, the reaction thus far has been nothing. Declassified UK posted on X that the Foreign Office’s response to British journalist Steve Sweeney being targeted by an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon was simply to reply to the government’s position made before Sweeney was targeted, a word salad blaming Iran and Lebanese Resistance, Hezbollah, and whitewashing the US-Israeli strikes which were the direct cause of Iranian retaliation.

It also claimed the government would, “continue our support for British nationals in the region.” Clearly, that support doesn’t extend to Sweeney.

Remarkably, later the same day that he was nearly killed, Sweeney was already back outside reporting, defiantly stating, “If Israel thinks today’s strike will silence us and keep us out of the field they are very, very mistaken.”

To the CPJ’s credit, despite its failing elsewhere (like failing to report on the dozens of Russian journalists killed by the Ukrainian regime since 2014), it did issue a strong and clear condemnation of the attack on Sweeney and Sbeity, unequivocally naming Israel as the perpetrator.

It called for “an investigation into the apparent targeting” of the journalists, and emphasized they were injured, “when an Israeli air strike hit just feet away from where they were filming while wearing clearly marked press gear and with their equipment clearly visible in southern Lebanon.”

CPJ stated, “Striking reporters who are clearly marked as a press constitutes a violation of international law.” See, BBC and co? It’s not that hard.

Not only does Israel, empowered by Western silence and cooperation, bomb civilians and civilian infrastructure. It also targets journalists, whose job it is to document these atrocities. Refusal to call these attacks out for what they are is cowardly at best, complicit at worst.

Related Links:

–‘Deliberate attack’: RT correspondent recounts surviving Israeli airstrike

–A massacre within a massacre: Israel is exterminating Palestinians in northern Gaza and killing Palestinian journalists reporting on it

–Reporters without shame: Top ‘media rights’ organization ignores rampant Israeli killings of Gaza journalists

–Israel is deliberately obliterating media buildings in Gaza to cover up the war crimes that will follow

–Ukraine’s murder of 30 Russian journalists met with Western indifference…or grotesque gloating

–Ukraine bombed a Donetsk hotel full of journalists – here’s what it felt like to be inside at the time

Western media is either silent or implicitly blaming Tehran for the strike that killed 168 girls

March 4, 2026, RT.com

-by Eva Karene Bartlett

In Iran, under ongoing US-Israeli attacks, a mass funeral took place today for 168 Iranian schoolgirls aged 7-12, killed by an Israeli airstrike on February 28.

The strike hit the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ primary school in Minab, southern Iran, in broad daylight, when the children were at school. Fourteen teachers were also killed in the bombing. The bombing occurred as part of US-Israeli attacks sadistically dubbed ‘Operation Epic Fury’, attacks which have to date targeted schools, hospitals, residential areas and other civilian infrastructure.

It was a scene all too familiar to Palestinians: grief-stricken parents collapsing sobbing at the site of their daughters’ murders, clutching bloodstained backpacks, pulling out schoolbooks and personal items of their slain daughters. Children’s desks covered in debris from the bombing. A child’s shoe in the rubble. Death where life had flourished.

None of this is being conveyed by Western legacy media – only ghoulish gloating over the US-Israeli bombardment of Iran and the murder of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, and his young granddaughter and children.

On March 2, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted a photo of the graves being dug on X, noting, “These are graves being dug for more than 160 innocent young girls who were killed in the US-Israeli bombing of a primary school. Their bodies were torn to shreds. This is how “rescue” promised by Mr. Trump looks in reality. From Gaza to Minab, innocents murdered in cold blood.”

At the time of this writing, 69 of the murdered girls remain unidentified.

International media reaction: Silence

If the bombed school had been in Israel or Ukraine, news of it would have been plastered on front pages of Western media for days, with widespread demands for retaliation, or at least for justice and accountability. Back in 2016, Western media alleged Syria or Russian planes had injured Aleppo boy Omran Daqneesh. His photo went viral, for weeks, even years.

A CNN news anchor fake-sobbed for the boy. In 2017, in his Aleppo home, his father told me their home was not hit in an airstrike, but rather terrorists shelled it and used the boy in a cynical, and effective, photo op.

Footage shared on Telegram and on X clearly show horrific scenes of some of the young girls torn apart in the US-Israeli bombing of their school. But just like the untold thousands of Palestinian children killed by Israel, as well as the half a million Iraqi children killed by US sanctions, these Iranian children’s lives don’t merit Western media outrage.  Instead, they produce cynical reports that not only lack any semblance of empathy, but suggest that Iran is either lying about or is to blame for the murders.

Take the BBC’s report, which describes the massacre as a “reported” strike on a school, which “Iran has blamed the US and Israel” for. Casting doubt is standard for legacy media whitewashing the US and Israel’s crimes. The US is “looking into reports.” Israel is “not aware.” Just one of those mysterious unknown strikes.

The BBC then overtly blamed the Iranian government as untrustworthy, writing, “Deep mistrust of the Iranian regime, however, makes official reports difficult for many to accept, and some Iranians directly blamed the regime for the attack.”

The BBC did similarly dishonest and deceptive journalism in 2014 in Damascus after terrorists in eastern Ghouta had shelled an elementary school, killing one child and injuring over 60. The BBC later reported: “the government is also accused of launching [mortar strikes] into neighborhoods under its control.” The BBC could have easily learned about the trajectory of mortars and from where the strike in question could only have come: the terrorist “moderates” east of Damascus.

The New York Times also got the memo, likewise omitting Israel from the headline and implying Iran is lying. But when it comes to blaming Iran for its retaliation, the NYT has no problem stating whose missile strike it was. And there is no “Israel says.”

CNN ran the headline “A girls’ elementary school was hit in Iran. Here’s what we know.” Its video report not only doesn’t mention the US or Israel, but insinuates Iranian blame: In an Israel-like tactic (recall Israel’s claiming  Gaza’s Shifa hospital was a “Hamas base”, and staging weapons as “proof”), CNN claims the children’s school could be connected to an Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) base. But The Cradle noted that the school had operated independently as a civilian institution for over a decade, with separate entrances, playgrounds, and classrooms.

CNN’s report did, at least, debunk online claims that the school was hit by a failed missile launch by Iran, noting the photo shared online as “proof” of the claim was actually taken 800 miles from Minab. But, hello? If it wasn’t a failed Iranian missile there is clearly one remaining explanation: the schoolgirls were killed by US-Israeli bombing.

Most Western media cite The US military’s Central Command (Centcom) as saying it was “looking into reports of the incident,” and the Israeli army as saying it was “not aware of any IDF operations in the area.”Ah yes, the guilty shall investigate themselves. Right.

Even if you set aside the actual culprit of the school bombing, legacy media reports are devoid of any concern for the slaughtered children: no details, no empathy, no mention that they were murdered in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The tone would be radically different were the children Israeli, Ukrainian or American. We would see names, ages, stories about them. They would be humanized – if only they were not Iranian (or Palestinian, or Lebanese, or Syrian).

Since the February 28 Minab school massacre, US-Israeli strikes have attacked still more civilian infrastructure, killing and injuring more Iranian civilians.

As of March 5, the death toll in American-Israeli aggression against Iran has raised to 1,405.
In Lebanon, meanwhile, at least 72 people have been killed & about 100 injured since Monday.

One man recounted to RT how after the bombing of central Tehran’s Enghelab Square he’d seen a decapitated person in front of his café. Walking around showing the destruction, RT’s Tehran bureau chief Hami Hamedi pointed out residential buildings, cars, shops, damaged and destroyed in recent bombings where a police station was among those targeted.

This was the same tactic which Israel used on December 27, 2008, when it unleashed over 100 bombs nearly simultaneously on Gaza, targeting police stations, police academies, universities and more, destroying and damaging shops and residential buildings around them.

I was in Gaza at the time and saw the immediate aftermath of the initial bombings, the chaos and destruction in every direction. Shifa hospital, Gaza’s main hospital, was an endless circuit of cars and ambulances bringing the dead and injured.

That was 17 years ago, and Israel has repeated this brutal tactic over and over again in Gaza, Lebanon and now Iran. We’ve seen this US-Israeli strategy of terrorizing the people by widely attacking civilian infrastructure repeatedly in Gaza, Lebanon, Iraq, to list only some of the targeted regions – as well as being replicated by the Kiev regime in the Donbass. The intent is always destabilization and instigation of fear in hopes of causing the people to turn against their government. It never works, but it invariably kills countless innocent civilians and flattens infrastructure.

To add further insult, days after the girls’ school massacre, Melania Trump presided over a UN Security Council meeting on children in conflict. You can’t make this insanity up. The wife of a US president who is co-waging a war on children in Iran feigns concern over children in conflict.

The US and its bought media have so little regard for Iranian lives that they don’t even bother to try to explain, much less apologize for, the murders of the 168 schoolgirls. Outrageously, it is as if they simply never existed to Western media.

But it is true that every war crime, every murdered child, fuels support not only to their government but to resistance in general. And Iran is resisting and retaliating in ways that will make the US wish it hadn’t co-started this war on the people of Iran.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

According to Geopolitics Prime: “Israel and the US want the world to look away. But one man owns this strike — IDF Chief of Staff, Gen. Eyal Zamir.”

Here’s why he’s accountable:

Strikes abroad are approved by the General Staff — and the first waves are personally ordered by its Chief. That’s Zamir.

Target selection and timing are managed by the Operational Directorate, in lockstep with the Chief of Staff.

Zamir himself praised the “significant achievements” of the first day’s strikes. He knew exactly what — and who — was hit.

Lebanese Journalist, Marwa Osman, provided a more detailed account of civilian infrastructure targeted by US-Israeli bombing since February 28:

The elementary school in the city of Minab was just one of the first civilian locations targeted by American/Israeli brutal aggression; many more have been attacked during the past 5 days. Here are some of them:

• Residential areas in Niloufar Square, Tehran (over 20 innocent people were killed)
• A densely populated residential complex in Sanandaj, western Iran
• The historic Radio Citadel and Golestan Palace, south of Tehran
• Gandhi Hospital, Tehran
• Tehran Grand Bazaar, Tehran
• Abuzar Hospital, Ahvaz, southwestern Iran
• The vicinity of the Iranian Red Crescent Society building, Tehran
• Khatam al-Anbia Hospital, Tehran
• The Welfare Organization, Tehran
• Motahari Hospital, Tehran
• Vali-Asr Hospital, Tehran
• Trauma and Burn Hospital, Tehran
• Ameneh Infant Care Centre, Tehran
• Shahid Rajaei Heart Hospital, Tehran
• Residential homes surrounding Sepah Square, Tehran
• Residential areas in Maragheh, northwestern Iran (over 27 innocent people were killed)
• Baqaei Hospital, Ahvaz, southwestern Iran
• Emergency medical base, Chabahar
• Emergency medical base, Sarab, northwestern Iran
• Emergency medical base, Hamedan, central Iran
• Hazrat Abolfazl Hospital, Minab, southern Iran
• Shahid Mahallati Primary School, Tehran
• Hedayat School, Narmak, Tehran
• A sports hall in Lamerd, Fars Province, southern Iran (18 innocent boys and girls were killed)
• 35 innocent people were killed in Fars Province, central Iran
• Bazaar in Baharestan Square, central Tehran
• A park for children in Tehran
• Emergency medical centre, Tehran
• A kindergarten in Narmak
• Residential homes in Narmak district, Araghi st., Marzdaran blvd, Tehran
• Arg Square, The historic Radio Citadel and Golestan Palace, south of Tehran
• Attack on Mir-Damād Boulevard, causing damage to residential and medical facilities
• Attack on 2 headquarters of the Diplomatic Police

No one is safe from the ‘Russian propaganda’ sanctions – even those who never touch Russian sources. Baud is one of nearly 60 public figures under sanctions from the EU

January 27, 2026, RT.com

-Eva Karene Bartlett

On December 15, 2025, the European Union slapped sanctions on former Swiss intelligence officer, and former NATO employee, Jacques Baud. Without due process. No day in court, no charges filed, just abrupt, suffocating, sanctions.

Why did the EU sanction Baud? For “Russian propaganda”, of course, although much of whom he cites are Western and Ukrainian sources—including the SBU and former Zelensky advisor, Arestovich—in his reports on the West provoking war with Russia years prior to Russia’s special military operation.

Welcome to the latest EU insanity, and criminality.

Widely-respected for his deep knowledge and analysis, much of which is based on his own research while working with NATO, Baud has grown increasingly popular over the years, appearing on numerous podcasts and interviews, authoring numerous books and articles as well.

On December 15, 2025, the European Union slapped sanctions on former Swiss intelligence officer and ex-NATO employee Jacques Baud. No day in court, no charges filed, just abrupt, suffocating, sanctions.

Why did the EU sanction Baud? For “Russian propaganda,” of course, although many of the sources he cites in his reports on the West provoking war with Russia years prior to Russia’s military operation are Western and Ukrainian – including the SBU and Aleksey Arestovich, a former adviser to Vladimir Zelensky.

Welcome to the latest EU insanity.

Widely respected for his deep knowledge and analysis, much of which is based on his own research while working with NATO, Baud has grown increasingly popular over the years, appearing on numerous podcasts and interviews, authoring numerous books and articles as well.

Since Russia began its military operation in Ukraine, Western media have been howling about an “unprovoked invasion.” Baud has written and spoken extensively about realities which counter this claim: facts on the ground prior to February 2022, going back (unlike most legacy media who have developed selective amnesia) to even before the 2014 Maidan coup.

What is interesting about Baud is he does not use Russian sources to back his claims and he has not taken a public position in favor of either Russia or Ukraine.

He has simply analyzed the situation, based on information he had access to. How did he have access to this information? In 2014, when working for NATO in charge of countering proliferation of small arms, he was tasked with investigating accusations of Russia supplying arms to Donbass resistance.

He wrote of this in 2022, noting, “The information we received then came almost entirely from Polish intelligence services and did not ‘fit’ with the information coming from the OSCE – despite rather crude allegations, there were no deliveries of weapons and military equipment from Russia.”

“The rebels were armed thanks to the defection of Russian-speaking Ukrainian units that went over to the rebel side. As Ukrainian failures continued, tank, artillery and anti-aircraft battalions swelled the ranks of the autonomists.”

As a result of his research, he was also able to unequivocally debunk accusations of Russia sending military units into Donbass, by quoting the SBU (Ukrainian security service) itself as well as other Ukrainian sources.

In a September 2024 interview I did with Baud, he spoke of this.

“I can categorically say no, there were no Russian forces in Donbass. The guy you encountered (I had mentioned meeting one sole Russian former soldier when I went to the Donbass in 2019) represents exactly the kind of Russian presence that was at that time, recognized by the SBU and recognized also by the Ukrainian Chief of Staff.“

“In a public interview in 2015, just after the signature of the Minsk Agreement 2, the head of the Ukrainian General Staff said publicly that there were no Russian military units fighting in Donbass; that there were only individual soldiers exactly the same case as the one you just mentioned.”

It is clear he is not citing Russian information (or “propaganda”) but Ukrainian and Western sources. An even better illustration of this is what he had to say about the prelude to Russia commencing its Special Military Operation in February 2022.

Referring to a March 2021 decree by Zelensky (to take back Crimea and the south of Ukraine), Baud spoke of an interview two years prior with Zelensky’s former adviser, Arestovich.

“He says in order to join NATO, we had to have a war with Russia. When the interviewer asked him when would this conflict happen, Arestovich says end of 2021 or 2022.”  A position, Baud noted, which aligned with a March 2019 300-page document published by the Rand Corporation, “that explains how to defeat and to destabilize Russia.”

The EU is almost certainly pissed off that Baud likewise demolished the Western propaganda claims about Russia invading Crimea in 2014. He told me, “The Ukrainian army at that time was a conscript army, meaning that within the Ukrainian army you had both Ukrainian speakers and Russian speakers. When the army was ordered to shoot or to fight against demonstrators, those who were Russian speakers just defected, they just changed side. They just went to support the protesters and they became in fact those the famous ‘little green men’.”

Keep in mind that Baud was working for NATO then. “There was absolutely not the slightest indication that Russia brought new troops to Crimea. Based on the status of force agreement signed between Russia and Ukraine, you had up to 25,000 Russian troops stationed in the Crimean peninsula. At that time they were not even 25,000, there were 22,000. A Ukrainian lawmaker on Ukrainian TV said that out of the 20,000 (sic) Ukrainian soldiers that were deployed in Crimea, 20,000 defected to the Russian-speaking side.”

As for “Russian propaganda,” it is a term bandied about quite easily by legacy media and NATO mouthpieces to taint reputations or lead to censorship of voices. The war backers are upset that their own “Russia started it” propaganda isn’t working.

Sanctions prevent Baud from even buying food

Baud lives in Brussels, and now as a result of the sanctions is unable to even buy food for himself. Nor can well-intending people do so on his behalf. In an interview on Dialogue Works at the end of December, 2025, Baud said:

“Yesterday, a friend of mine tried from Switzerland to buy food for me, to be delivered to my home (in Belgium). She could order, but the payment was blocked. Any delivery to my home is prohibited, even if the funds come from Switzerland.”

People who are aware of his unjust situation have physically been bringing him food, to alleviate his inability to purchase it himself.

In a more recent interview on Judging Freedom, Baud highlighted that his case was a foreign policy decision, denying him due process.

“This is not a decision that has been taken by any court. I was not judged by anybody. In fact I was not in front of a jury. I could not present my case. I could not defend my case. This decision was not taken by a court but by the council of the foreign ministers of the European union.”

The most he can do, Baud explained, is, “go to the European Court of Justice and try to make my case saying that the decision was not just, and the court of justice may then study the case and have an assessment on that.” Even if the court concludes the sanctions are not justified, all it can then do is, “advise the council of foreign ministers to change their mind.”

Given that the sanctions against Baud are punitive for his not toeing the line, it is unlikely minds will be changed.

A growing list of EU sanctioned voices

Jacques Baud isn’t the first to be sanctioned by the EU. Many journalists and public figures have been sanctioned for their writings or words on the Donbass, Crimea, corruption in Ukraine, and so on. However, many have safety in Russia or elsewhere, and while their foreign bank accounts have been unjustly frozen, they can at least buy food and otherwise live normally.

A recent article in Forum Geopolitica notes the brazen illegality of these sanctions. “In contrast to Article 11 of its own charter, the EU has decided to punish, disenfranchise and expropriate the citizens of all countries without any offence having been committed, as was last seen in Nazi Germany.

This elimination of dissidents is not ordered by a court, but by the “Council of the European Union”, the political arm of the EU. The Council, in which non-democratically elected apparatchiks lead a good life, is chaired by Kaja Kallas, herself not democratically elected. We are back in the Middle Ages.”

French journalist Xavier Moreau was also sanctioned, and roughly half a year prior, Swiss-Cameroonian political activist Nathalie Yamb was targeted.

German journalist, Hüseyin Doğru, was sanctioned in May 2025 for, being a “Russian disinformation actor, and for, according to him, “pro-Palestine reporting and documenting the repression of activists in Germany + the EU.”

As with the others sanctioned, no “evidence” of the EU’s accusations was provided, particularly no proof of financial ties to Russia or Russian media.

A petition demanding “the immediate lifting of the illegal sanctions against Jacques Baud as well as against all journalists, scholars, and EU citizens,” rightly notes it is not a crime to name the true reasons for the Ukraine war.

“It is not a crime to draw readers’ attention to untruths and to the EU’s and NATO’s own propaganda. It is not a crime to point out the thoughtless cooperation of the West with Ukrainian forces that show a dangerous proximity to fascists.”

Further noting the sanctions have targeted 59 journalists and scholars, it points out, the EU is “using the sanctions list as an instrument to silence critics and is maneuvering itself ever deeper into an abyss of lawlessness.”

Quite amusingly, President of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen (also known as Ursula von der Lying), posted of “protecting” freedom of speech. The EU Commission website claims the right to freedom of expression, “also means the freedom and pluralism of the media shall be respected.”

The sanctions are part of the broader desperate campaign of threatening and censoring voices that report truthfully on matters related to Ukraine, the ongoing Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, and other timely topics. Yes, they can censor us by deleting our Youtube and social media platforms, or by imposing sanctions on journalists, authors, and other public figures.

But, it doesn’t work. Baud said he now has more visibility and more credibility. “It’s always a bad idea when you start preventing someone to speak. This attracts more more attention.”

Related:

-Under Fire from Ukraine and Misperceived by the West, The People of the DPR Share Their Stories, October 16, 2019, Mint Press News (In Gaza)

–JACQUES BAUD: NATO ATTEMPTED TO DESTABILIZE & THREATEN RUSSIA DECADES BEFORE 2022, September 19, 2024

–JACQUES BAUD: US MEDIA SHIFT NARRATIVE ON UKRAINE BEFORE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS, October 7, 2024

-Jacques Baud’s writings published on The Postil

–Donbass: My Articles, Videos & Interviews (2019-present)

–Return to Russia: Crimeans Tell the Real Story of the 2014 Referendum and Their Lives Since, October 19, 2019, Mint Press News (In Gaza)

–Crimean Tatar & Interethnic and Interfaith Relations Chair, Ibraim Shirin, Counters Western Lies on Crimea, May 2024

I’m giving UpScrolled a try, since it appears to be a more fair platform than X (and since I’ve been deleted from Youtube and Facebook indefinitely https://t.me/Reality_Theories/29479).

Still setting up, but you can find me there, and also on my Telegram channel.

Statistics from the formerly known JCCC, now called “The Department for Documentation of War Crimes of Ukraine of the Administration of the DPR Head and Government”

Via Donbass News

NOTE: From February 17, 2022-January 26, 2026, in the DPR (so not including Lugansk or elsewhere in Russia):

–5520 CIVILIANS KILLED by Ukrainian attacks, including 159 CHILDREN

–8630 CIVILIANS INJURED, including 574 CHILDREN

–192 CIVILIANS MAIMED, including 11 CHILDREN, by Ukrainian-fired PFM-1 “Petal” mines (warning, graphic: look at this photo to see what a maimed foot looks like)—THREE of whom DIED as a result of their injuries.

SINCE 2014 when Ukraine began illegally bombing the civilians of the Donbass, 9894 CIVILIANS KILLED (in the DPR alone), including 250 CHILDREN,
and 16,449 CIVILIANS INJURED, including 1043 CHILDREN

*My writings & videos on the Petal mines:

–The West is silent as Ukraine targets civilians in Donetsk using banned ‘Petal’ mines, Aug 7, 2022, RT

–In Just Under Three Weeks, Ukrainian-Fired Prohibited “Petal” Mines Maim At Least 44 Civilians, Kill 2, in Donetsk Region, August 23, 2022, Covert Action Magazine

-Ukraine turns Donetsk into a minefield using banned ‘Petal’ mines [video]

–Donetsk Emergency Services & Sappers Clear Residential Areas of Ukraine’s Mines [video]

–Ukrainian Terrorism: Firing Munitions Containing Petal Mines On Donbass Orphanage, Another War Crime [video]

–14 Year Old Is One of 87 Donbass Civilians Maimed By Petal Mines Fired By Ukraine [video]

–What I’ve seen of Ukraine’s war crimes against civilians in the Donbass over the years

-My writings from the Donbass since 2019

As accusations of abductions resurface, it’s clear the West doesn’t care about facts on the ground if they contradict the narrative

January 9, 2026, RT

-Eva Karene Bartlett

*I wrote this in mid December, however due to various factors, it was just recently published.

For the last three years, Ukraine and concerted legacy media campaigns have been screaming that Russia has abducted, or forcibly displaced, thousands of Ukrainian children – even up to 1.5 million!

The accusations resurged in December, with a UN General Assembly vote on a draft resolution on the return of Ukrainian children.

During the meeting, Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mariana Betsa once again pushed claims that “at least 20,000 Ukrainian children have been deported to Russia,” in spite of the fact that months prior, during the June Istanbul talks, the Ukrainian side finally provided a list of the children it accuses Russia of abducting: 339 children, surprisingly far fewer than the number alleged for years.

The absence of over 19,500 on the list indeed leads to many questions, mainly: is Ukraine lying again? Recall that in 2022, the accusations by the (now former) Ukrainian ombudswoman, Lyudmila Denisova, about “sexual atrocities” allegedly committed by Russian soldiers, were revealed to be lies and propaganda. So much so that Denisova was sacked. But before her dismissal, legacy media and the UN all backed the lies.

Some recent accusations are that children were being sent to labor camps in Russia – “165 re-education camps where Ukrainian children are militarized and Russified” – or even of being sent to North Korea, as Katerina Rashevskaya of the Ukrainian Regional Center for Human Rights told the US Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs on December 3.

The footnotes of the claims made by Rashevskaya, instead of a source for the information, say “The Regional Human Rights Center can provide information upon request.” In other words, her sources are “trust me, bro.”

Regarding the North Korean camp in question, if two Russian teens were sent there, they’d potentially be made to enjoy water slides, basketball and volleyball courts, an arcade room, a rock climbing wall, art and performance halls, an archery range, a private beach, and hikes in the mountains.

Regarding the list of 339 children Ukraine says were abducted by Russia, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova remarked, “30 percent of the names on the list could not be verified, as most of those children were never in Russia, are now adults, or have already returned to their families. As for the Ukrainian children who are actually in our country, they are under state care in appropriate institutions. They are safe now; in many cases, their evacuation from combat zones saved their lives. Local children’s rights commissioners are now working to reunite them with their relatives.”

Just as legacy media has whitewashed the eight years of Ukraine’s war against Donbass civilians prior to Russia commencing its military operation in 2022, including the Ukrainian shelling which killed 250 children starting in 2014, media likewise ignore the children Russia says are missing.

During the talks in Istanbul, Zakharova noted, “the Russian side presented Ukraine with a list of 20 Russian children who are either currently in Ukraine or relocated from Ukraine to Western Europe, including to countries that endorsed this very statement. Now, the burden falls on these states to provide Russia with a substantive response regarding our ‘list of 20.’”

Over 500 Ukrainian orphans abused in Türkiye

Recently, Donbass-based journalist Christelle Néant wrote about a report published on a pro-Ukrainian website which broke the story of 510 Ukrainian children who had been evacuated by a Ukrainian oligarch in 2022 from Dnepropetrovsk to Türkiye, where the benevolent foundation which brought them there allegedly allowed its staff to beat the children, sexually assault them, and deny them food if they refused to perform on camera to raise funds for their lodging. These are just some of the reported violations of the orphans’ rights.

The details of the report show that the children suffered physically and psychologically. Additionally, two underage teens were impregnated by staff at the hotel they stayed in, with educators allegedly aware of the interactions.

According to Néant, the orphanage director’s response to the fact of one of the teens in her care becoming pregnant was to blame the girl: “This young girl comes from an asocial family. Well, this way of life is already inscribed in every cell, in the blood of these children.”

“In almost 10 years of work in Donbass,” Néant wrote, “I have conducted or filmed many humanitarian missions to orphanages in the region. And never ever have I heard a director make such vile remarks about one of the children in her care. Even the most difficult and recalcitrant were cared for with pedagogy, love, and patience.”

Ukraine hunting down children

In April 2023, Christelle Néant and I interviewed Artyomovsk civilians who had recently been rescued by Russian soldiers. In addition to being deliberately shelled by Ukrainian forces who knew they were sheltering in the basement of a residential building, the civilians we spoke to told us about Ukrainian military police hunting for children.
The evacuees told us some of these police went by the name ‘White Angels’, and were taking childrenaway without their consent or that of their parents.

*Watch the video (on Telegram, on Odysee)

Around that time, more reports came out about these abductions or attempted abductions, including an 11-year-old girl who spoke of how White Angels, who introduced themselves as military police, came to the basement she was sheltering in with a photo of her, looking for her, and saying they needed to take her away, because “Russia killed her mother.” According to the girl, her mother was alive and with her.

Reports of these abductions also emerged in Avdeyevka, Kupyansk, Slavyansk, Chasov Yar and Konstantinovka, as well as in Ukrainsk and Zhelannoye.

Néant wrote of a July 2023 conference on Ukraine’s crimes against the Donbass children, in which Liliya and her daughter Kira from Schastye, in the Lugansk People’s Republic, spoke. 

They gave evidence of how, “at the start of the special military operation (when Ukraine controlled Schastye), around ten children were taken from a school in Schastye to western Ukraine by the headmistress of the school, on orders from Kiev, without informing their parents.”

The children were even forbidden to call their parents, Néant wrote, “But Kira knew her mother’s telephone number by heart and managed to call her to let her know that they were in Lviv and then Khoust. Thanks to Liliya’s determination to find her daughter, we discovered how Kiev ‘exports’ the children it abducts.” Ukraine had forged a new “original” birth certificate for Kira. The girl said she and the other children were to be sent to Poland.

Former SBU officer Vasily Prozorov spoke at the same conference, where he explained, according to Néant, “that one of his investigations had revealed that some of the children abducted by Ukraine are sent to pedophile networks in Great Britain, via a whole network of Ukrainian and British officials or former officials who work together. On the British side, members of MI6 and the Foreign Office are involved.”

Prozorov, she wrote, spoke of “another of his investigations on organizations registered in EU countries involved in ‘exporting’ children from Ukraine under the pretext of providing them with shelter. These organizations take unaccompanied Ukrainian children out of Ukraine. What happens to them afterwards is unknown.”

Evacuees from Kherson reject ‘abduction’ claims

In November 2022, in the southern Russian seaside city Anapa, I met numerous people displaced from Kherson who were being lodged in hotels and apartments in the city.

The first site I visited was a few minutes by taxi outside of the city, one of many hotels along the coast. The hotel director showing me around said they don’t call them refugees, “we call them guests of the building,” and spoke affectionately of them, how grateful they were to be there, far from any shelling. Just under 500 refugees had been living there since October, she told me.

No guards monitored the entrance/exit; the refugees walked around tidy grounds. But in any case, I asked about their freedom of movement, or lack thereof.

“They move freely, of course. We don’t prohibit them from going out. Many aren’t here now because they’re in town, looking for jobs, getting documents. Children are at school.”

With my hired translator, I spoke with two Kherson women, a young mother and her own mother, to hear their stories.

“We were living with explosions at night, it was very scary, not only for myself, but for my children and for my grandchildren,” the older woman said. “When you go to bed, you don’t know if you will get out of bed in the morning. We were forced to leave.”

I asked who was shelling them. “Word of mouth transmits very clearly, and people around us spoke about it. We were bombed by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Russian soldiers protected us.”

The younger woman said she used to speak with the Russian soldiers there. “They are friendly. We wanted to hug them, because we felt protected. They helped us, gave us humanitarian aid, brought it to the house.”

Some minutes’ taxi ride away, I visited an apartment complex that could have served tourists in summer.  There, fifty buildings housed around 1,500 refugees who had also arrived in October, mostly from Kherson Region.

My translator and I walked around, passing playgrounds, a pharmacy, a library, a swimming pool, a gym, a small petting zoo with peacocks, and a kindergarten. Near a playground, I spoke with a mother sitting on a bench with two of her four children.

“In the early days, there was bombing. We spent two and a half weeks in the basement. It was unbearable, the children were very afraid.” One of her daughters became ill. “She had acute inflammation of the lower jaw, we think due to hypothermia. We took her to Simferopol and she had surgery.” 

In Anapa, she said, her children hadfull medical examinations. “We were helped by the mayor of the city of Anapa. We are grateful for everything.”

I mentioned that according to Western media, she and her family were kidnapped by Russia. She replied that her husband’s parents had demanded to see the children, having been told that children were being separated from their parents in Russia.

“His mother called three days in a row, saying, ‘Where are the children?’ We answered, ‘They went to the cinema. They’re playing, etc.’ She said, ‘Show me the children, they say that they took your children from you.’”

*Watch the video

Details matter

Whereas legacy media continue to push the “Evil Russia child kidnapper” narrative, there is ample evidence that Ukraine is guilty of doing precisely what it accuses Russia of. The is also a significant absence of evidence regarding the ‘20,000 kidnapped children’ claims still being pushed.

Will media investigate the reports of abuse of Ukrainian children in Türkiye? Surely not. It wouldn’t suit their scripted anti-Russia bias.

Related Links:

–Artyomovsk locals reveal how Ukrainian forces targeted civilians and took children during the ‘battle for Bakhmut’

–Artyomovsk Refugees Speak of Ukraine’s “White Angels” Abducting Children

–Ukrainian children evacuated to Turkey suffered physical, psychological, and sexual abuse

–Kherson Refugees Reject Western Media Claims of Russia “Kidnapping” Them

–Donbass: My Articles, Videos & Interviews (2019-present)

This is a brief written exchange with two of the founders of a site that is doing very important work in supporting Palestinians in Gaza, lifeline4Gaza [https://lifeline4gaza.com/]. I’m in no way affiliated with the organization, but as Gaza is very dear to my heart, I deeply appreciate what the volunteers are doing, and can vouch for the integrity of one of them, having been in touch with Ainiladra on X for many years. Keep in mind that Palestinians are dignified and would not ask for support if they hadn’t been subjected to an endless, ongoing, genocide. They are, consequently, dependent on outside support for their very survival. Please consider supporting this project, and thus Palestinians in need, in the ways outlined in their replies. Thank you!

–The tragedies Palestinians in Gaza continue to suffer are so widespread and endless. Has the need for support decreased since the so-called Trump 20 point plan to end the war in Gaza?

The “Trump plan” is illegal and unworkable and worse than not helping, it and the so-called ceasefire which has not stopped US-Zionist aggression have lulled people into thinking that the genocide in Gaza is over. The plan ignores the most basic rights of Palestinians to self-determination, dignity and return and exculpates the occupier of any accountability.

Once again, a UN stamp has been given to further Palestinian dispossession and genocide. Besides that, its not implementable. Crossings remain largely closed to people and the most essential basic goods and desperately needed medical supplies and reconstruction equipment. The civil infrastructure remains without electricity and sufficient fuel.

*From the lifeline4Gaza website

–What is lifeline4Gaza (LL4G)? How and when did it form?

It formed by destiny :). Ainiladra, like many others on X (& Instagram & elsewhere) now working on maintaining LL4G, was quoting and promoting dozens of fundraisers. And she was struggling to keep up with the many requests and so had decided to prioritize promoting those who were receiving very few donations.

She noticed the name Gijsbert among the donors on many of the appeals she was circulating and looked it up on twitter and found the account “bug0xr” and privately messaged him to thank him for his generosity. He said he noticed what she was doing (trying to prioritize neglected appeals) and had a simple software solution for it if she was interested. What he began as a simple solution developed into a proper website in July 2025, allowing volunteers to enter in several hundred appeals, initially.

The project developed to include dozens of volunteers who not only promote appeals, but also organize several themselves, with another team of volunteer translators and designers of flyers. There are now over 1900 appeals listed, and more every day. There is also an on-site submission form (also in Arabic, among several other languages), so anyone from Gaza or their supporters can apply.

The work of volunteers in really driving the site’s development cannot be understated. They are coming up with such creative ideas to promote it (like the Advent Calendar for Christmas and creating postcards using artwork from people in Gaza). There have been many challenges because X keeps suspending many Gaza-based accounts, whose entries need constant updating as a result. They also suspended ll4gaza’s original account and bug0xr’s!

And yet, the project keeps moving forward. To be there for people in Gaza, Palestine, because they need support. 

*(This is a condensed summary of the reply to this question. I’ll put the entire reply at the bottom of this post.)

-Do you take any cut of the funds raised?

We do not take any funds ourselves; instead we redirect visitors who want to donate to a specific campaign to the fundraiser platform it is hosted on. Thus 100% of each donation goes directly to the family or initiative via the original platform, minus only that platform’s standard processing fees.

-Many people want to help, but are worried about being scammed. How do you vet campaigns?

Many of the campaigns that are listed on ll4gaza are supported by groups that have already verified them (like @gazafunds and @palestineasdiqa, to name just a few). These campaigns are clearly tagged as such on the website. 

For campaigns that lack such support, peer-to-peer confirmation has been undertaken, where we consult known Gaza-based individuals, centering the knowledge & expertise of those enduring this genocide.

-If people don’t have the money to donate, does merely sharing campaign on X and other platforms help?

Although sharing campaigns on social media might help spotlight some of them, only those that get real traction (i.e., those that go ‘viral’) will see any significant support – and even then, that support usually ebbs out after a day or two. Those are the outliers, though. Most campaigns only get circulated among the circulators themselves (due to how the algorithms on these platforms work, preferring to push content people are most susceptible to), or get no real circulation at all (due to suppression on the platforms).

At lifeline4gaza.com, we are currently listing 1900+ campaigns, of which 900+ have gone without a donation for 5 to 26 days, with most of the beneficiaries having social media presence – clearly indicating that sharing campaigns on these platforms is no winning strategy.

We therefore advise people to (besides sharing individual campaigns) also share the link to lifeline4gaza.com, where every campaign listed gets its turn at the top of the list, based on how much funding it has received over 5 days & on how long it has been stagnant. This sorting is done quasi real-time, to make sure that every appeal gets its fair turn, without any algorithm (or executive decree) intervening in that process.

In addition to all of this, we also urge people to take campaigning ‘offline’: on the website we host many flyers, in multiple languages, which can be printed at home and taken everywhere you go. Put them on notice boards at your school, office, club house, protest – anywhere.

-What are the most common, and most urgent, needs Palestinians in Gaza have now?

Honestly, this is not something we are able to answer, because the needs are so vast and the urgency of them so real; it’s indescribable. Of course there is an urgent, pressing need for shelter given the extensive destruction of housing by the US-Zionist aggression, and warm clothing as winter sets in. But in terms of identifying and prioritising the exact specific needs, ll4gaza is not able to track this in detail.

The Sameer project & other community initiatives on the ground are able to assess this much better than us.

Our goal is to get donations to these appeals evenly distributed, regardless of their status so that families in Gaza can decide for themselves how to allocate their fund. It’s not too far-fetched to look at it as trying to achieve a universal basic income for the families in Gaza.

*Related: Trump’s 20 point plan to end the war in Gaza is the usual Israeli ultimatum: surrender or be murdered

*Full reply to my question “What is lifeline4Gaza? How and when did it form?”

It formed by destiny :). Ainiladra, like many others on twitter (& instagram & elsewhere) now working on maintaining it, was quoting and promoting dozens of fundraisers. And she was struggling to keep up with the many requests and so had decided to prioritize promoting those who were receiving very few donations. She noticed the name Gijsbert among the donors on many of the appeals she was circulating and looked it up on twitter and found bug0xr (his account) and privately messaged him to thank him for his generosity. He said he noticed what she was doing (trying to prioritize neglected appeals) and had a simple software solution for it if she was interested.

[Bugx0r had been following Ainiladra on X for a while already; sometimes donating to the most urgent appeals she was promoting & also interacting with some of her posts. After a while, he noticed how overwhelmed she became with managing the QT requests she got – wanting to prioritize the most neglected ones; but with so many of them sent to her, it came to him this was going to be an uphill battle where she might need all the help possible – for the families in Gaza & for herself too.

He then came up with a plan to build a software solution where appeals could be manually entered & where the software platform would take care of updating the donations made to them (in real time, but sequentially). An algorithm was implemented to sort the appeals in real time, based on how little & how long ago each appeal had gotten donations, with the most neglected ones being listed at the top.

Designing, concepting & realizing the first version of this software took about a week or two. He didn’t want to let her know about it before a first version actually existed; though, shortly before that first (very much work-in-progress) version was ready, she contacted him herself, thanking him for his donations & asking if he was interested in helping organize/manage fundraiser campaigns, because there were so many families still needing one & too few people willing or able to manage these campaigns. Because of reasons – which will not be specified here – he had to turn down her ask; but took the opportunity to let her know what he was working on – even though no working prototype was ready yet :)]

She didn’t think much of it but then a week or so later (this was in July 2025), he came back with a simple website where he had entered a couple of dozen appeals to test it. She started entering all the appeals she had been circulating but then she saw how useful it was, she asked bug0xr if he would like to make it a public site. And he agreed. So she kept entering appeals and got to maybe a few hundred and invited others who were circulating appeals to join a chat on twitter to coordinate building up the site further. Over the last few months, dozens of volunteers who not only promote appeals, but also organize several themselves, have been working to build up and promote the site. There is also a team of volunteer translators and designers of flyers. There is a group with their own chat on instagram. Dozens of beneficiaries of funding appeals listed from Gaza have also been among those consulted and several have been included in the chats. There are now over 1900 appeals listed and more every day. There is an on-site submission form too (also in Arabic, among several other languages) so anyone from Gaza or their supporters can apply. The work of volunteers in really driving the site’s development cannot be understated. They are coming up with such creative ideas to promote it (like the Advent Calendar for Christmas and creating postcards using artwork from people in Gaza). There have been many challenges because twitter keeps suspending many Gaza-based accounts, whose entries need constant updating as a result. They also suspended ll4gaza’s original account and bug0xr’s! And yet, the project keeps moving forward. To be there for people in Gaza, Palestine, because they need support. 

Donetsk ambulance destroyed by Ukrainian shelling while out on a call. [Photo: Eva Bartlett]

November 20, 2025, Reverse

Since Russia  began its SMO in 2022, Western media have repeatedly accused Russia of an “unprovoked invasion” and of “war crimes”.

Honest observers, however, state that Russia has acted with considerable restraint in Ukraine—targeting military and logistics sites, not civilians—and remind of Ukraine’s eight years of warring on the civilians in the Donbass prior to the commencement of the SMO in 2022. Further, they emphasize that once again, in December 2021, Russia made clear its concerns in hopes of a diplomatic solution. These were, again, steadily ignored by Western governments and media.

Likewise ignored is Ukraine’s deliberate, shelling and drone striking of medical and rescue personnel. Under international law, medical and rescue personnel and their vehicles are protected and must not be targeted. Ukraine and its ally Israel are guilty of routinely, deliberately, targeting medics and other rescuers, maiming and killing them. These are war crimes, but the West remains mute, instead concocting stories of “Russian war crimes” in the face of Ukraine’s very real ones.

In September 2019, when I first visited the Donbass, in a village in the Gorlovka region I met an elderly resident of living alone in a home falling apart from previous Ukrainian shelling. During our conversation she said that ambulances wouldn’t be able to reach her if she was injured by the shelling, it would  be too dangerous  for them to try. 

I was likewise told by Zaitsevo administration that ambulances could not reach the villagers.

“The paramedics don’t go farther than this building; it’s too dangerous. If somebody needs medical care near the front lines, someone has to go in their own car and take them to a point where medics can then take them to Gorlovka. The soldiers also help civilians who are injured.
A woman died due to huge blood loss because no one could reach her house to take her away in time. She was injured in the shelling and bled to death.”

This is one sordid reality for civilians living in villages heavily bombarded by Ukraine.

But the medics heroically do go to potentially dangerous areas to rescue civilians, and they have for years been deliberated targeted by Ukrainian forces when doing so.

In 2022, I interviewed numerous medics and Emergency Services workers in Donetsk regions, and subsequently made a short video about Ukraine’s deliberate targeting of rescue personnel.

Speaking with Emergency Services in Donetsk’s Kievsky district, for the two hours I was there we came under heavy Ukrainian shelling.

The windows of the building had already been blown out and were sand-bagged to attempt to protect the workers. The Chief of the centre, Andrey Levchenko, told me how five days prior his office had been impacted with shrapnel from the shelling. He thankfully had just stepped of his office before the blast and was not injured or killed.

The day prior to my visit, when out on a call to rescue civilians trapped in a building set ablaze by Ukrainian shelling, rescuers were shelled, resulting in one of them being hospitalized in critical condition.

The survivors told me that, prior to the shelling, they saw a drone overhead, which makes it credible to believe that Ukraine deliberately targeted the rescuers.

Levchenko told me that Ukraine routinely double and triple strikes rescuers.

“As soon as we go out to help people the shelling resumes.” The double or triple strike tactic often means that rescuers who have come to help those injured in the first strike are then themselves targeted, depriving civilians in need of urgent medical assistance as a result.

I also spoke with Sergei Neka, Director of the Department of Fire and Rescue Forces of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. He reiterated what I’d been told.

“Our units arrive at the scene of the accident and Ukraine begins to shell it. A lot of equipment has been damaged and destroyed.”

Two female medics I interviewed told me coming under repeated Ukrainian shelling is normal. They spoke of their fear, bu said, “How about the patients? They’re hurt and even more scared, they’re waiting for our help. If I don’t help, who will help if everyone runs away?”

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By September 2022, Ukrainian forces targeted and killed 19 Donbass rescuers, injuring over 50 more.

Ukraine continues killing medics

Fast forward to the present. Following are just some of Ukraine’s more recent attacks on medics and other rescue workers.

On August 11, a Ukrainian drone targeted an ambulance in Gorlovka, killing two medics and seriously injuring the driver.

In May, a Ukrainian drone strike killed two Emergency workers who had come to the site of a first drone strike in Lugansk. In an Israeli-style second strike, Ukraine targeted the rescuers deliberately after the arrived at the scene.

In March, Russian Emergencies Ministry employees came to extinguish a car on fire following a Ukrainian drone strike in Gorlovka. A Ukrainian drone targeted them, injuring the deputy head of the firefighting service and damaging a fire truck.

There are tragically many more such instances which I could list. However, the point is that it is beyond clear that Ukraine’s shelling and drone targeting of Russian medics, firefighters and other rescuers has been a deliberate policy since before 2022.

It is also clear that Western concern for medics allegedly targeted elsewhere (think the fake rescuers of the al-Qaeda aligned White Helmets in Syria during the global war on Syria) will never extend to any concern for Russian rescuers actually targeted by Ukraine.

VIDEO: –More Ukrainian War Crimes: Killing & Maiming Heroic Donbass Medics & Emergency Workers