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Source: https://theintercept.com/feed/

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12.        <title>The Intercept</title>
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23.                <title><![CDATA[A Newspaper Called His Gaza Photos “Hamas Propaganda.” He’s Fighting Back.]]></title>
24.                <link>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/14/journalist-axel-springer-hamas-israel-gaza/</link>
25.                <comments>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/14/journalist-axel-springer-hamas-israel-gaza/#respond</comments>
26.                <pubDate>Sun, 14 Sep 2025 10:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
27.                                    <dc:creator><![CDATA[Hanno Hauenstein]]></dc:creator>
28.                                 <category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
29.  
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31.                                    <description><![CDATA[<p>Palestinian journalist Anas Zayed Fteiha filed legal claim against Axel Springer for alleging his photos exaggerate the famine in Gaza.</p>
32. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/14/journalist-axel-springer-hamas-israel-gaza/">A Newspaper Called His Gaza Photos “Hamas Propaganda.” He’s Fighting Back.</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
33. ]]></description>
34.                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[
35. <p><span class="has-underline">Anas Zayed Fteiha</span>, a Palestinian photojournalist in the Gaza Strip, filed a legal claim seeking an injunction against global publishing giant Axel Springer, which he accuses of violating his constitutional rights by falsely portraying him as a Hamas propagandist in Germany’s largest tabloid, BILD.</p>
36.  
37.  
38.  
39. <p>The filing against a European news organization is a first-of-its-kind legal strategy for a journalist working in Palestine. “I want to prove the truth cannot be erased by false allegations,” Fteiha told The Intercept.</p>
40.  
41.  
42.  
43. <p>Fteiha’s legal claim, submitted in the Frankfurt am Main Regional Court, stems from a BILD article published on August 5 under the headline “This Gaza photographer stages Hamas propaganda.”</p>
44.  
45.  
46.  
47. <p>The BILD piece singled out Fteiha, alleging he fabricated images of starving Palestinians to push a Hamas narrative. To underscore this charge, BILD published a picture showing Fteiha kneeling to photograph people in Gaza holding empty pots in front of a metal barrier. BILD framed the scene as an attempt to exaggerate the levels of hunger in Gaza. Later in August, a United Nations-backed body <a href="https://www.un.org/unispal/document/ocha-ohchr-wfp-who-press-briefing-22aug25/">declared a famine in Gaza</a>.</p>
48.  
49.  
50.  
51. <p>The article claims Fteiha staged the photo and describes him as a “journalist” three times, always in quotation marks.</p>
52.  
53.  
54.  
55. <p>“In fact it was a genuine moment of human suffering,” Fteiha told The Intercept.</p>
56.  
57.  
58.  
59. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-right"><blockquote><p>“I could be targeted simply because false reports about me were published.”</p></blockquote></figure>
60.  
61.  
62.  
63. <p>Fteiha was at the food distribution site as a freelancer for the Turkish news agency Anadolu and published a range of photographs online from that day. To Fteiha, BILD’s reporting is part of a campaign to discredit Palestinian journalists, he told The Intercept.</p>
64.  
65.  
66.  
67. <p>“Falsely accusing me of staging propaganda exposes me to threats and undermines the supposed protections afforded to journalists,” he said. “It means I could be targeted simply because false reports about me were published.”</p>
68.  
69.  
70.  
71.  
72.  
73.  
74.  
75. <p>Fteiha is seeking an injunction proceeding, an emergency procedure aimed at reaching a quicker resolution than a typical lawsuit. If granted by the court, the injunction would require Axel Springer to correct the statements in the article that he alleges are false and would oblige the publisher to cover the costs of the legal proceedings brought by Fteiha. </p>
76.  
77.  
78.  
79. <p>Axel Springer has not responded to questions from The Intercept. A BILD group communications spokesperson said that the company has not yet received Fteiha’s filing and therefore cannot comment on it.</p>
80.  
81.  
82.  
83. <p>Fteiha’s legal action could test whether German courts are willing to hold one of the country’s most powerful media outlets accountable for defamatory coverage that <a href="https://uebermedien.de/90840/aus-solidaritaet-mit-israel-verzichtet-bild-darauf-ueber-palaestinensische-opfer-in-gaza-zu-berichten/">critics say has fueled the dehumanization</a> of Palestinians. Just days after Fteiha was singled out in the August article, BILD ran the image of Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif — <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/08/12/anas-al-sharif-al-jazeera-journalist-killed-israel/">who was</a> <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/08/12/anas-al-sharif-al-jazeera-journalist-killed-israel/">killed by an Israeli strike </a>hours earlier — with the headline: “Terrorist disguised as journalist killed in Gaza.” The phrasing was later revised to “Killed journalist allegedly was a terrorist.”</p>
84.  
85.  
86.  
87. <p>That article, too, is mentioned in the filing: “It seems that [Axel Springer] is promoting a narrative portraying journalists in Gaza as accomplices of Hamas.”</p>
88.  
89.  
90.  
91. <p>Fteiha’s claim, filed by German press lawyer Ingrid Yeboah with support from the European Legal Support Center, rejects BILD’s assertions that Fteiha staged or manipulated his images and that he masquerades as a journalist. It argues that the BILD reporting includes “gravely defamatory and life-threatening statements” that constitute a violation of Fteiha’s “general right of personality” under German constitutional law, which protects individuals against defamation.</p>
92.  
93.  
94.  
95. <p>BILD never sought Fteiha’s comment before publication, his filing alleges, despite claiming otherwise in the article. BILD’s communications director Christian Senft told The Intercept: “As a matter of principle, we do not comment on our sources or editorial processes.”</p>
96.  
97.  
98.  
99.  <div class="promote-related-post">
100.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
101.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/07/30/new-york-times-hamas-aid-israel-gaza-famine/"
102.      data-ga-track="in_article-body"
103.      data-ga-track-action="related post embed: new-york-times-hamas-aid-israel-gaza-famine"
104.      data-ga-track-label="new-york-times-hamas-aid-israel-gaza-famine"
105.          >
106.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/GettyImages-2226065700-e1753896458922.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
107.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
108.        Related      </h2>
109.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">The New York Times Repeated Israeli Claims of Hamas Stealing Aid Without Evidence</h3>
110.    </span>
111.    </a>
112.  </div>
113.  
114.  
115.  
116. <p>The article, the filing says, insinuates that Fteiha deliberately withheld photos showing men at the food distribution site in order to distort reality and bolster a “constructed narrative” serving Hamas.</p>
117.  
118.  
119.  
120. <p>Yet before the BILD article was published, Fteiha had already posted several images from the day in question — depicting men as well as women and children waiting for food — as a report by Der Spiegel showed.</p>
121.  
122.  
123.  
124. <p>The filing argues that BILD deliberately withheld this fact in order to maintain its narrative that a Gaza-based journalist was spreading Hamas propaganda.</p>
125.  
126.  
127.  
128. <p>BILD further attempted to link Fteiha to Hamas, he alleges, by citing an <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DK6u76RIROG/">Instagram image</a> he co-published that reads “Free Palestine” — describing this as Fteiha’s “mission” — and by framing his freelance work for Anadolu as “subordinate to Turkish President and Israel-hater Recep Tayyip Erdogan.” Both examples, the filing argues, were wrongfully presented as evidence of political extremism intended to delegitimize Fteiha.</p>
129.  
130.  
131.  
132. <p>Before the BILD article came out, the liberal news outlet Süddeutsche Zeitung, or SZ, published a piece titled, “How real are the images from Gaza?” BILD referred to the article as it questioned the authenticity of photos taken by journalists in Gaza. The SZ article consulted experts and published the same image of Fteiha photographing civilians behind a metal barrier.</p>
133.  
134.  
135.  
136. <p>Although SZ did not mention Fteiha by name, the article — together with BILD’s — was quickly <a href="https://x.com/IsraelMFA/status/1952789657948762135">amplified on social media</a> by Israel’s foreign ministry. Pointing to the German coverage as proof that Hamas manipulates global opinion, the ministry branded Fteiha an “Israel- and Jew-hater” serving Hamas.</p>
137.  
138.  
139.  
140.  <div class="promote-related-post">
141.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
142.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/07/24/gaza-humanitarian-foundation-israel-aid-starvation/"
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144.      data-ga-track-action="related post embed: gaza-humanitarian-foundation-israel-aid-starvation"
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147.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/GettyImages-2225506182-e1753308249668.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
148.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
149.        Related      </h2>
150.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Gaza Humanitarian Foundation Head Boasts Success as Palestinians Starve</h3>
151.    </span>
152.    </a>
153.  </div>
154.  
155.  
156.  
157. <p>The U.S–Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation <a href="https://x.com/GHFUpdates/status/1952853762265235667">quickly joined in</a>, followed by major Israeli outlets such as <a href="https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/staged-suffering-german-investigation-exposes-hamass-photo-propaganda-machine/">The Times of Israel,</a> <a href="https://www.ynetnews.com/article/skvxuqxdxl">Ynet</a>, and the <a href="https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-863454">Jerusalem Post</a>. Israeli President Isaac Herzog <a href="https://www.jwire.com.au/herzog-demands-truth-after-german-media-exposes-fake-gaza-photography/">echoed the fabrication narrative</a> as well, holding up the photo of Fteiha at a conference in Estonia and citing German press reports. “It was all staged,” Herzog declared.</p>
158.  
159.  
160.  
161. <p>Christopher Resch, a spokesperson for Reporters Without Borders Germany, said that German media appeared eager to amplify Israel’s campaign to delegitimize a Palestinian journalist.</p>
162.  
163.  
164.  
165. <p>“Newsrooms should always — especially when it comes to war reporting — apply the highest professional and ethical standards and never report carelessly,” Resch said. “If media reports can be used to legitimise criminal decisions by the Israeli military, one can assume they will be used.”</p>
166.  
167.  
168.  
169.  
170.  
171.  
172.  
173. <p>Fteiha’s legal action followed an application for a cease-and-desist order that Yeboah filed on September 1 demanding that BILD retract the contested statements and cover Fteiha’s legal costs, while reserving the right to seek further damages.</p>
174.  
175.  
176.  
177. <p>Axel Springer’s lawyer Felix Seidel rejected that request in an official letter on September 4, arguing that “after reviewing the facts and legal situation, [we] inform you that we do not intend to comply with the demands of your client.”</p>
178.  
179.  
180.  
181. <p>According to the filing, the BILD article violated multiple standards of German press law. The filing alleges the story contained false claims, including that Fteiha had not distributed the images in question and was merely posing as a journalist. It further argues that under German law, suspicion reporting is only permissible if backed by careful research, a minimum factual basis, and a clear indication that the allegations are unproven. It notes that the subject must be given the chance to comment before publication — all requirements that, the filing says, BILD ignored.</p>
182.  
183.  
184.  
185. <p>Fteiha continues to work in Gaza despite the Israeli military’s heavy bombing and imminent ground invasion of in Gaza City. “I believe my role as a journalist is to bear witness to what is happening and to convey the truth to the world — no matter the cost,” he told The Intercept.</p>
186. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/14/journalist-axel-springer-hamas-israel-gaza/">A Newspaper Called His Gaza Photos “Hamas Propaganda.” He’s Fighting Back.</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
187. ]]></content:encoded>
188.                                <wfw:commentRss>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/14/journalist-axel-springer-hamas-israel-gaza/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
189.                <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
190.                <media:content url='https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2226024843.jpg?fit=2835%2C1890' width='2835' height='1890' /><post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">498938</post-id>
191. <media:thumbnail url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2221348960_94c72c-e1757705558549.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" />
192. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2221348960_94c72c-e1757705558549.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
193. <media:title type="html">US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (R), flanked by US President Donald Trump, speaks at a press conference during the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in The Hague on June 25, 2025. (Photo by JOHN THYS / AFP) (Photo by JOHN THYS/AFP via Getty Images)</media:title>
194. </media:content>
195. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2222497571-e1757608186419.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
196. <media:title type="html">WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 2: Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) walks into the office of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) at the U.S. Capitol Building on July 2, 2025 in Washington, DC. House Republicans began work on final passage of the &#34;One, Big, Beautiful Bill&#34; Act yesterday, less than two hours after the Senate passed its version of President Donald Trump&#039;s signature domestic agenda legislation. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)</media:title>
197. </media:content>
198. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/crop-AP25246393159091-e1757703046180.webp?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
199. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/GettyImages-2226065700-e1753896458922.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
200. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/GettyImages-2225506182-e1753308249668.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
201.            </item>
202.        
203.            <item>
204.                <title><![CDATA[New Bill Would Give Marco Rubio “Thought Police” Power to Revoke U.S. Passports]]></title>
205.                <link>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/13/marco-rubio-revoke-us-passports-terrorism/</link>
206.                <comments>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/13/marco-rubio-revoke-us-passports-terrorism/#respond</comments>
207.                <pubDate>Sat, 13 Sep 2025 08:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
208.                                    <dc:creator><![CDATA[Matt Sledge]]></dc:creator>
209.                                 <category><![CDATA[National Security]]></category>
210. <category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
211.  
212.                <guid isPermaLink="false"></guid>
213.                                    <description><![CDATA[<p>Rubio has already sought to punish immigrants for speech. New legislation might let him do it for U.S. citizens.</p>
214. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/13/marco-rubio-revoke-us-passports-terrorism/">New Bill Would Give Marco Rubio “Thought Police” Power to Revoke U.S. Passports</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
215. ]]></description>
216.                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[
217. <p><span class="has-underline">In March,</span> Secretary of State Marco Rubio stripped Turkish doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk’s of her visa based on what a court later found was nothing more than her <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/03/30/tufts-rumeysa-ozturk-ice-immigration-op-ed/">opinion piece</a> critical of Israel.</p>
218.  
219.  
220.  
221. <p>Now, a bill introduced by the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee is ringing alarm bells for civil liberties advocates who say it would grant Rubio the power to revoke the passports of American citizens on similar grounds.</p>
222.  
223.  
224.  
225. <p>The provision, sponsored by Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., as part of a larger State Department reorganization, is <a href="https://docs.house.gov/Committee/Calendar/ByEvent.aspx?EventID=118618">set for a hearing</a> Wednesday. </p>
226.  
227.  
228.  
229. <p>Mast’s legislation says that it takes aim at “terrorists and traffickers,” but critics say it could be used to deny American citizens the right to travel based solely on their speech. (The State Department said it doesn’t comment on pending legislation.)</p>
230.  
231.  
232.  
233. <!-- BLOCK(pullquote)[0](%7B%22componentName%22%3A%22PULLQUOTE%22%2C%22entityType%22%3A%22SHORTCODE%22%2C%22optional%22%3Atrue%7D)(%7B%22pull%22%3A%22right%22%7D) --><blockquote class="stylized pull-right" data-shortcode-type="pullquote" data-pull="right"><!-- CONTENT(pullquote)[0] -->“Rubio has claimed the power to designate people terrorist supporters based solely on what they think.”<!-- END-CONTENT(pullquote)[0] --></blockquote><!-- END-BLOCK(pullquote)[0] -->
234.  
235.  
236.  
237. <p>Seth Stern, the director of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation, said the bill would open the door to “thought policing at the hands of one individual.”</p>
238.  
239.  
240.  
241. <p>“Marco Rubio has claimed the power to designate people terrorist supporters based solely on what they think and say,” Stern said, “even if what they say doesn’t include a word about a terrorist organization or terrorism.”</p>
242.  
243.  
244.  
245. <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-vague-terrorist-designations"><strong>Vague “Terrorist” Designations</strong></h2>
246.  
247.  
248.  
249. <p>Mast, for his part, has publicly voiced his <a href="https://washingtonreporter.news/p/exclusive-free-him-more-like-deport">support</a> for &#8220;kicking terrorist sympathizers out of our country.&#8221; At the time, he was talking about deporting Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian green-card holder who the Trump administration <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/06/20/mahmoud-khalil-homeland-security-investigations-ice-surveillance/">detained and attempted to deport</a> based on what <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/03/13/briefing-podcast-mahmoud-khalil-free-speech/">critics of the move</a> said were <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/03/10/mahmoud-khalil-palestine-columbia-immigration-deport/">his pro-Palestine views</a>.</p>
250.  
251.  
252.  
253.  <div class="promote-related-post">
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255.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/04/10/deportation-case-mahmoud-khalil-antisemitism-rubio-trump/"
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263.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">The Case Against Mahmoud Khalil Hinges on Vague “Antisemitism” Claim</h3>
264.    </span>
265.    </a>
266.  </div>
267.  
268.  
269.  
270. <p>Mast’s new bill claims to target a narrow set of people. One section grants the secretary of state the power to revoke or refuse to issue passports for people who have been convicted — or merely charged — of material support for terrorism. (Mast’s office did not respond to a request for comment.)</p>
271.  
272.  
273.  
274. <p>Kia Hamadanchy, a senior policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union, said that language would accomplish little in practice, since terror convictions come with stiff prison sentences and pre-trial defendants are typically denied bail.</p>
275.  
276.  
277.  
278. <p>The other section sidesteps the legal process entirely. Rather, the secretary of state would be able to deny passports to people whom they determine “has knowingly aided, assisted, abetted, or otherwise provided material support to an organization the Secretary has designated as a foreign terrorist organization.”</p>
279.  
280.  
281.  
282. <p>The reference to “material support” disturbed advocates who have long warned that the government can misuse statutes criminalizing “material support” for terrorists — first passed after the 1996 Oklahoma City federal building bombing and toughened after the 9/11 attacks — to punish speech.</p>
283.  
284.  
285.  
286.  
287.  
288.  
289.  
290. <p>Some of those fears have been borne out. The Supreme Court <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/national/2010/06/22/court-upholds-ban-on-terrorrelated-aid/c652dfbe-39cb-49eb-8b8a-139fc388a4a9/">ruled in 2010</a> that even offering advice about international law to designated terror groups could be classified as material support.</p>
291.  
292.  
293.  
294. <p>The government even deemed a woman who was kidnapped and forced to cook and clean for Salvadoran guerrillas a material supporter of terrorism, <a href="https://theintercept.com/2018/06/09/immigration-terrorism-prosecutions-material-support-united-states/">in order to justify her deportation.</a></p>
295.  
296.  
297.  
298. <p>Since the October 7 Hamas attacks, pro-Israel lawmakers and activists have ratcheted up attempts to expand the scope and use of anti-terror laws.</p>
299.  
300.  
301.  
302. <p>The <a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/02/21/adl-palestine-terrorism-legislation/">Anti-Defamation League</a> and the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law <a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/02/21/adl-palestine-terrorism-legislation/">suggested in a letter</a> last year that Students for Justice in Palestine was providing “material support” for Hamas through its on-campus activism.</p>
303.  
304.  
305.  
306.  <div class="promote-related-post">
307.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
308.            href="https://theintercept.com/2024/05/10/terrorism-bill-nonprofit-journalists-israel-hamas/"
309.      data-ga-track="in_article-body"
310.      data-ga-track-action="related post embed: terrorism-bill-nonprofit-journalists-israel-hamas"
311.      data-ga-track-label="terrorism-bill-nonprofit-journalists-israel-hamas"
312.          >
313.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/AP24081584525760_b3a832-e1715287216641.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
314.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
315.        Related      </h2>
316.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Criticizing Israel? Nonprofit Media Could Lose Tax-Exempt Status Without Due Process</h3>
317.    </span>
318.    </a>
319.  </div>
320.  
321.  
322.  
323. <p>Lawmakers also tried to pass a<a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/11/10/trump-nonprofit-tax-exempt-political-enemies/"> “nonprofit killer” bill</a> that would allow the Treasury secretary to strip groups of their charitable status if they are deemed a “terrorist-supporting organization.” The bill was beaten back by a coalition of nonprofit groups, most recently during the debate over the <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/05/19/nonprofit-killer-trump-big-beautiful-bill/">so-called Big, Beautiful Bill.</a></p>
324.  
325.  
326.  
327. <p>Mast’s bill contains eerily similar language, Stern said.</p>
328.  
329.  
330.  
331. <p>“This is an angle that lawmakers on the right seem intent on pursuing — whether through last year’s nonprofit killer bill, or a bill like this,” Stern said.</p>
332.  
333.  
334.  
335. <p>The provision particularly threatens journalists, Stern said. He noted that Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., in November 2023 <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/11/tom-cotton-hamas-journalists-fake-news-disinformation-netanyahu-gantz/">demanded a Justice Department “national security investigation”</a> of The Associated Press, CNN, New York Times, and Reuters over freelance photographers’ images of the October 7 attacks.</p>
336.  
337.  
338.  
339. <p>Rubio also revoked Öztürk’s visa on what appears to be nothing more than an op-ed she wrote for the Tufts University student newspaper in 2024 — which <a href="https://www.tuftsdaily.com/article/2024/03/4ftk27sm6jkj">did not mention Hamas</a> — calling on the school to <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/03/30/tufts-rumeysa-ozturk-ice-immigration-op-ed/">divest from companies tied to Israel</a>.</p>
340.  
341.  
342.  
343. <p>Since taking office, Rubio has also added groups to the State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations at a blistering pace, focusing largely on gangs and <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/08/15/trump-mexico-war-cartels/">drug cartels </a>that were previously the domain of the criminal legal system.</p>
344.  
345.  
346.  
347.  
348.  
349.  
350.  
351. <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-free-speech-exception"><strong>Free Speech Exception?</strong></h2>
352.  
353.  
354.  
355. <p>There is an ostensible safety valve in Mast’s bill. Citizens would be granted the right to appeal to Rubio within 60 days of their passports being denied or revoked.</p>
356.  
357.  
358.  
359. <p>That provided little comfort to the ACLU’s Hamadanchy, who is helping rally opposition to the bill.</p>
360.  
361.  
362.  
363. <p>“Basically, you can go back to the secretary, who has already made this determination, and try to appeal. There’s no standard set. There’s nothing,” he said.</p>
364.  
365.  
366.  
367. <p>Hamadanchy said the provision granting the secretary of state discretionary power over passports appeared to be an attempt to sidestep being forced to provide evidence of legal violations.</p>
368.  
369.  
370.  
371. <p>“I can’t imagine that if somebody actually provided material support for terrorism there would be an instance where it wouldn’t be prosecuted — it just doesn’t make sense,” he said.</p>
372.  
373.  
374. <!-- BLOCK(promote-post)[3](%7B%22componentName%22%3A%22PROMOTE_POST%22%2C%22entityType%22%3A%22SHORTCODE%22%2C%22optional%22%3Atrue%7D)(%7B%22slug%22%3A%22chilling-dissent%22%2C%22crop%22%3A%22promo%22%7D) -->  <aside class="promote-banner">
375.    <a class="promote-banner__link" href="https://theintercept.com/collections/chilling-dissent/">
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377.          <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="150" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?fit=300%2C150" class="attachment-medium size-medium" alt="" srcset="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=1536 1536w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=300 300w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=768 768w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=1024 1024w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=540 540w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=1000 1000w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />        </span>
378.            <div class="promote-banner__text">
379.                  <p class="promote-banner__eyebrow">
380.            Read our complete coverage          </p>
381.        
382.        <h2 class="promote-banner__title">Chilling Dissent</h2>
383.      </div>
384.    </a>
385.  </aside>
386. <!-- END-BLOCK(promote-post)[3] -->
387.  
388.  
389.  
390. <p>While the “nonprofit killer” bill drew only a smattering of opposition on the right from libertarian-minded conservatives such as Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., Stern said Republicans should be just as concerned about the potential infringement of civil liberties in the passport bill.</p>
391.  
392.  
393.  
394. <p>The law, he said, would also grant nearly unchecked power to a Democratic secretary, he said.</p>
395.  
396.  
397.  
398. <p>“Lately, it appears that the right is so convinced that it will never be out of power that the idea that one day the shoe might be on the other foot doesn’t resonate,” Stern said. “What is to stop a future Democratic administration from designating an anti-abortion activist, a supporter of West Bank settlements, an anti-vaxxer to be a supporter of terrorism and target them the same way? The list is endless.”</p>
399. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/13/marco-rubio-revoke-us-passports-terrorism/">New Bill Would Give Marco Rubio “Thought Police” Power to Revoke U.S. Passports</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
400. ]]></content:encoded>
401.                                <wfw:commentRss>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/13/marco-rubio-revoke-us-passports-terrorism/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
402.                <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
403.                <media:content url='https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2221348960-e1757705424289.jpg?fit=8208%2C4104' width='8208' height='4104' /><post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">498892</post-id>
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405. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25086587454957-e1744299130990.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
406. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2222497571-e1757608186419.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
407. <media:title type="html">WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 2: Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) walks into the office of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) at the U.S. Capitol Building on July 2, 2025 in Washington, DC. House Republicans began work on final passage of the &#34;One, Big, Beautiful Bill&#34; Act yesterday, less than two hours after the Senate passed its version of President Donald Trump&#039;s signature domestic agenda legislation. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)</media:title>
408. </media:content>
409. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/crop-AP25246393159091-e1757703046180.webp?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
410. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-1848351309-e1757709459132.jpeg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
411. <media:title type="html">In this photo illustration from 2023, the logo of Proton Mail is seen displayed on a mobile phone screen with AI written in the background.</media:title>
412. </media:content>
413. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/AP24081584525760_b3a832-e1715287216641.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
414. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?fit=300%2C150" medium="image" />
415.            </item>
416.        
417.            <item>
418.                <title><![CDATA[Proton Mail Suspended Journalist Accounts at Request of Cybersecurity Agency]]></title>
419.                <link>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/12/proton-mail-journalist-accounts-suspended/</link>
420.                <comments>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/12/proton-mail-journalist-accounts-suspended/#respond</comments>
421.                <pubDate>Fri, 12 Sep 2025 20:56:29 +0000</pubDate>
422.                                    <dc:creator><![CDATA[Nikita Mazurov]]></dc:creator>
423.                                 <category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category>
424.  
425.                <guid isPermaLink="false"></guid>
426.                                    <description><![CDATA[<p>The journalists were reporting on suspected North Korean hackers. Proton only reinstated their accounts after a public outcry.</p>
427. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/12/proton-mail-journalist-accounts-suspended/">Proton Mail Suspended Journalist Accounts at Request of Cybersecurity Agency</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
428. ]]></description>
429.                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[
430. <p><span class="has-underline">The company behind</span> the Proton Mail email service, Proton, <a href="https://proton.me/#:~:text=We%20are%20a%20neutral%20and%20safe%20haven%20for%20your%20personal%20data%2C%20committed%20to%20defending%20your%20freedom">describes itself</a> as a “neutral and safe haven for your personal data, committed to defending your freedom.”</p>
431.  
432.  
433.  
434. <p>But last month, Proton disabled email accounts belonging to journalists reporting on security breaches of various South Korean government computer systems following a complaint by an unspecified cybersecurity agency. After a public outcry, and multiple weeks, the journalists’ accounts were eventually reinstated — but the reporters and editors involved still want answers on how and why Proton decided to shut down the accounts in the first place.</p>
435.  
436.  
437.  
438. <p>Martin Shelton, deputy director of digital security at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, highlighted that numerous newsrooms use Proton’s services as alternatives to something like Gmail “specifically to avoid situations like this,” pointing out that “While it&#8217;s good to see that Proton is reconsidering account suspensions, journalists are among the users who need these and similar tools most.” Newsrooms like The Intercept, the Boston Globe, and the Tampa Bay Times all rely on Proton Mail for<a href="https://theintercept.com/source/"> emailed tip submissions</a>.</p>
439.  
440.  
441.  
442. <p>Shelton noted that perhaps Proton should “prioritize responding to journalists about account suspensions privately, rather than when they go viral.”</p>
443.  
444.  
445.  
446. <p>On Reddit, Proton’s official account <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/ProtonMail/comments/1nd1nrc/is_that_true/ndg68pz/">stated</a> that “Proton did not knowingly block journalists’ email accounts” and that the “situation has unfortunately been blown out of proportion.” Proton did not respond to The Intercept’s request for comment.</p>
447.  
448.  
449.  
450.  
451.  
452.  
453.  
454. <p><span class="has-underline">The two journalists</span> whose accounts were disabled were working on an <a href="https://phrack.org/issues/72/7_md">article</a> published in the August issue of the long-running hacker zine Phrack. The story described how a sophisticated hacking operation — what’s known in cybersecurity parlance as an APT, or advanced persistent threat — had wormed its way into a number of South Korean computer networks, including those of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the military Defense Counterintelligence Command, or DCC.</p>
455.  
456.  
457.  
458. <p>The journalists, who published their story under the names Saber and cyb0rg, describe the hack as being consistent with the work of Kimsuky, a notorious North Korean state-backed APT <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy1938">sanctioned</a> by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2023.</p>
459.  
460.  
461.  
462. <p>As they pieced the story together, emails viewed by The Intercept show that the authors followed cybersecurity best practices and conducted what’s known as responsible disclosure: notifying affected parties that a vulnerability has been discovered in their systems prior to publicizing the incident.</p>
463.  
464.  
465.  
466. <p>Saber and cyb0rg created a dedicated Proton Mail account to coordinate the responsible disclosures, then proceeded to notify the impacted parties, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the DCC, and also notified South Korean cybersecurity organizations like the Korea Internet and Security Agency, and <a href="https://www.krcert.or.kr/">KrCERT/CC</a>, the state-sponsored Computer Emergency Response Team. According to emails viewed by The Intercept, KrCERT wrote back to the authors, thanking them for their disclosure.</p>
467.  
468.  
469.  
470. <p>A note on cybersecurity jargon: CERTs are agencies consisting of cybersecurity experts specializing in dealing with and responding to security incidents. CERTs exist in over 70 countries — with some countries having multiple CERTs each specializing in a particular field such as the financial sector — and may be government-sponsored or private organizations. They adhere to a set of formal technical <a href="https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc2350">standards</a>, such as being expected to react to reported cybersecurity threats and security incidents. A high-profile example of a CERT agency in the U.S. is the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency, which has recently been <a href="https://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2025/06/cisa-projected-lose-third-its-workforce-under-trumps-2026-budget/405726/">gutted</a> by the Trump administration.</p>
471.  
472.  
473.  
474.  
475.  
476.  
477.  
478. <p>A week after the print issue of Phrack came out, and a few days before the digital version was released, Saber and cyb0rg found that the Proton account they had set up for the responsible disclosure notifications had been suspended. A day later, Saber discovered that his personal Proton Mail account had also been suspended. Phrack posted a timeline of the account suspensions at the top of the published article, and later highlighted the timeline in a viral social media <a href="https://x.com/phrack/status/1965385266904138241">post</a>. Both accounts were suspended owing to an unspecified “potential policy violation,” according to screenshots of account login attempts reviewed by The Intercept.</p>
479.  
480.  
481.  
482. <p>The suspension notice instructed the authors to fill out <a href="https://proton.me/support/appeal-abuse">Proton’s abuse appeals form</a> if they believed the suspension was in error. Saber did so, and received a reply from a member of Proton Mail’s Abuse Team who went by the name Dante.</p>
483.  
484.  
485.  
486. <p>In an email viewed by The Intercept, Dante told Saber that their account “has been disabled as a result of a direct connection to an account that was taken down due to violations of our terms and conditions while being used in a malicious manner.” Dante also provided a link to <a href="https://proton.me/legal/terms">Proton’s terms of service</a>, going on to state, “We have clearly indicated that any account used for unauthorized activities, will be sanctioned accordingly.” The response concluded by stating, “We consider that allowing access to your account will cause further damage to our service, therefore we will keep the account suspended.”</p>
487.  
488.  
489.  
490. <p>On August 22, a Phrack editors reached out to Proton, writing that no hacked data was passed through the suspended email accounts, and asked if the account suspension incident could be deescalated. After receiving no response from Proton, the editor sent a follow-up email on September 6. Proton once again did not reply to the email.</p>
491.  
492.  
493.  
494. <p>On September 9, the official Phrack X account made a <a href="https://x.com/phrack/status/1965385266904138241">post</a> asking Proton’s official account asking why Proton was “cancelling journalists and ghosting us,” adding: “need help calibrating your moral compass?” The post quickly went viral, garnering over 150,000 views.</p>
495.  
496.  
497.  
498. <p>Proton’s official account replied the following day, <a href="https://x.com/ProtonPrivacy/status/1965701661705322849">stating</a> that Proton had been “alerted by a CERT that certain accounts were being misused by hackers in violation of Proton’s Terms of Service. This led to a cluster of accounts being disabled. Our team is now reviewing these cases individually to determine if any can be restored.” Proton then <a href="https://x.com/ProtonPrivacy/status/1965828424963895605">stated</a> that they “stand with journalists” but “cannot see the content of accounts and therefore cannot always know when anti-abuse measures may inadvertently affect legitimate activism.”</p>
499.  
500.  
501.  
502. <p>Proton did not publicly specify which CERT had alerted them, and didn’t answer The Intercept’s request for the name of the specific CERT which had sent the alert. KrCERT also did not reply to The Intercept’s question about whether they were the CERT that had sent the alert to Proton.</p>
503.  
504.  
505.  
506.  <div class="promote-related-post">
507.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
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514.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
515.        Related      </h2>
516.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Proton Mail Says It’s “Politically Neutral” While Praising Republican Party</h3>
517.    </span>
518.    </a>
519.  </div>
520.  
521.  
522.  
523. <p>Later in the day, Proton’s founder and CEO Andy Yen <a href="https://x.com/andyyen/status/1965767030688317832">posted</a> on X that the two accounts had been reinstated. Neither Yen nor Proton explained why the accounts had been reinstated, whether they had been found to not violate the terms of service after all, why had they been suspended in the first place, or why a member of the Proton Abuse Team reiterated that the accounts had violated the terms of service during Saber’s appeals process.</p>
524.  
525.  
526.  
527. <p>Phrack noted that the account suspensions created a “real impact to the author. The author was unable to answer media requests about the article.” The co-authors, Phrack pointed out, were also in the midst of the responsible disclosure process and working together with the various affected South Korean organizations to help fix their systems. “All this was denied and ruined by Proton,” Phrack stated.&nbsp;</p>
528.  
529.  
530.  
531. <p>Phrack editors said that the incident leaves them “concerned what this means to other whistleblowers or journalists. The community needs assurance that Proton does not disable accounts unless Proton has a court order or the crime (or ToS violation) is apparent.”</p>
532. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/12/proton-mail-journalist-accounts-suspended/">Proton Mail Suspended Journalist Accounts at Request of Cybersecurity Agency</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
533. ]]></content:encoded>
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537. <media:thumbnail url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2221348960_94c72c-e1757705558549.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" />
538. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2221348960_94c72c-e1757705558549.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
539. <media:title type="html">US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (R), flanked by US President Donald Trump, speaks at a press conference during the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in The Hague on June 25, 2025. (Photo by JOHN THYS / AFP) (Photo by JOHN THYS/AFP via Getty Images)</media:title>
540. </media:content>
541. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2222497571-e1757608186419.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
542. <media:title type="html">WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 2: Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) walks into the office of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) at the U.S. Capitol Building on July 2, 2025 in Washington, DC. House Republicans began work on final passage of the &#34;One, Big, Beautiful Bill&#34; Act yesterday, less than two hours after the Senate passed its version of President Donald Trump&#039;s signature domestic agenda legislation. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)</media:title>
543. </media:content>
544. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/crop-AP25246393159091-e1757703046180.webp?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
545. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/new-GettyImages-1848352193-e1738076074973.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
546.            </item>
547.        
548.            <item>
549.                <title><![CDATA[China Didn’t Want You to See This Video of Xi and Putin. So Reuters Deleted It.]]></title>
550.                <link>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/12/reuters-video-xi-putin-delete-takedown/</link>
551.                <comments>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/12/reuters-video-xi-putin-delete-takedown/#respond</comments>
552.                <pubDate>Fri, 12 Sep 2025 17:45:06 +0000</pubDate>
553.                                    <dc:creator><![CDATA[Nikita Mazurov]]></dc:creator>
554.                                 <category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
555.  
556.                <guid isPermaLink="false"></guid>
557.                                    <description><![CDATA[<p>Following a copyright takedown request, Reuters removed a hot mic video of Putin and Xi discussing life extension and immortality.</p>
558. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/12/reuters-video-xi-putin-delete-takedown/">China Didn’t Want You to See This Video of Xi and Putin. So Reuters Deleted It.</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
559. ]]></description>
560.                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[
561. <p><span class="has-underline">When two world</span> leaders were caught on a hot mic having a bizarre conversation about living forever, the news agency Reuters realized it was a big story.</p>
562.  
563.  
564.  
565. <p>Reuters reported on and aired the footage of Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping discussing organ transplantation as a means of life extension and perhaps immortality during a September 3 Victory Day Parade in China, a procession celebrating the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War.</p>
566.  
567.  
568.  
569. <p>But two days later, Reuters yanked the video off its website, retracted the footage from its wire service, and erased clips from its social media feeds.</p>
570.  
571.  
572.  
573. <p>The reason: a takedown letter from a China Central Television, China’s state-controlled television network, which had licensed footage of the event to Reuters.</p>
574.  
575.  
576.  
577. <p>Last Friday, CCTV lawyer HE Danning wrote to Reuters demanding the video be taken down. “The editorial treatment applied to this material has resulted in a clear misrepresentation of the facts and statements contained within the licensed feed.”</p>
578.  
579.  
580.  
581. <p>Reuters, whose parent company Thomson Reuters conducts a variety of business operations in China, complied.</p>
582.  
583.  
584.  
585. <p>“Reuters removed the video from its website and issued a ‘kill’ order to its clients on Friday,” the media company <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/reuters-withdraws-xi-putin-longevity-video-after-china-state-tv-pulls-legal-2025-09-06/">wrote</a> in a statement published on its website, explaining its decision to withdraw the footage from a portal used by other news organizations that rely on Reuters as a wire service.</p>
586.  
587.  
588.  
589.  
590.  
591.  
592.  
593. <p>The initial Reuters<a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/hot-mic-picks-up-putin-xi-discussing-organ-transplants-immortality-2025-09-03/"> article</a> about the hot mic moment now contains a note that “story has been corrected to withdraw videos, with no changes to text.”</p>
594.  
595.  
596.  
597. <p>Reuters didn’t just remove the full four-minute event video from its systems, but also a 38-second annotated clip of the exchange that it had previously posted across its social media platforms, including <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@reuters/video/7545884587449224461">TikTok</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Reuters/videos/when-russian-president-vladimir-putin-walked-shoulder-to-shoulder-with-chinas-pr/1124799729747859/">Facebook</a>, and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/reuters2_hot-mic-picks-up-putin-and-xi-discussing-activity-7369044012822999041-r3ya">LinkedIn</a>. A Reuters World News <a href="https://www.reuters.com/podcasts/florida-vaccines-north-korea-africa-map-swifts-super-bowl-2025-09-04/">podcast episode</a>, which features a short audio clip of the exchange, is still online.</p>
598.  
599.  
600.  
601. <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-embed-handler wp-block-embed-embed-handler wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
602. <!-- BLOCK(oembed)[2](%7B%22componentName%22%3A%22OEMBED%22%2C%22entityType%22%3A%22EMBED%22%7D)(%7B%22embedHtml%22%3A%22%3Ciframe%20title%3D%5C%22China%20Doesn%26%23039%3Bt%20Want%20You%20To%20See%20This%20Video%5C%22%20width%3D%5C%221200%5C%22%20height%3D%5C%22675%5C%22%20src%3D%5C%22https%3A%5C%2F%5C%2Fwww.youtube.com%5C%2Fembed%5C%2FBIx5nB4U4Mg%3Ffeature%3Doembed%5C%22%20frameborder%3D%5C%220%5C%22%20allow%3D%5C%22accelerometer%3B%20autoplay%3B%20clipboard-write%3B%20encrypted-media%3B%20gyroscope%3B%20picture-in-picture%3B%20web-share%5C%22%20referrerpolicy%3D%5C%22strict-origin-when-cross-origin%5C%22%20allowfullscreen%3E%3C%5C%2Fiframe%3E%22%2C%22endpoint%22%3A%22https%3A%5C%2F%5C%2Fwww.youtube.com%5C%2Foembed%22%2C%22type%22%3A%22unknown%22%2C%22url%22%3A%22https%3A%5C%2F%5C%2Fyoutube.com%5C%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DBIx5nB4U4Mg%22%7D) --><iframe loading="lazy" title="China Doesn&#039;t Want You To See This Video" width="1200" height="675" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BIx5nB4U4Mg?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe><!-- END-BLOCK(oembed)[2] -->
603. </div></figure>
604.  
605.  
606.  
607. <p>Footage of the event remains online elsewhere — but not all clips capture the conversation between Xi and Putin as clearly as the Reuters recording. A <a href="https://youtu.be/ZOQNh4BnvMs?t=2795">version</a> of the event footage on CCTV’s official YouTube channel includes audio of an announcer speaking and music playing, obscuring the conversation about life extension between Xi and Putin.</p>
608.  
609.  
610.  
611. <p>In the version of the video Reuters posted to TikTok (and later deleted), Xi and Putin stroll around like old chums as they discuss, through translators, “immortality in a conversation caught on a hot mic,” as Reuters summarized in the opening title card.&nbsp;</p>
612.  
613.  
614.  
615. <p>During the conversation, as seen in the Reuters clip, Xi says: “In the past people rarely lived longer than 70 years, but today they say that at 70 you are still a child.”</p>
616.  
617.  
618.  
619. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-right"><blockquote><p> “Human organs can be continuously transplanted. The longer you live, the younger you become and even achieve immortality.”</p></blockquote></figure>
620.  
621.  
622.  
623. <p>The Russian state-funded outlet RT later <a href="https://x.com/RT_com/status/1963253124501500313">posted</a> Bloomberg’s <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-09-03/xi-muses-on-living-to-150-in-rare-hot-mic-moment-with-putin-kim">version of the video</a>, which remains online and features a similar translation of Xi’s remarks over the same 38-second sequence, which Bloomberg credits to CCTV’s “live transmission” of the parade; RT’s thread also featured an English-dubbed video of Putin confirming the exchange at a press conference.</p>
624.  
625.  
626.  
627. <p>Putin responds, “Human organs can be continuously transplanted. The longer you live, the younger you become and even achieve immortality.” Xi then says, “Some predict this century humans may live up to 150 years old.”</p>
628.  
629.  
630.  
631. <p>In a statement, Reuters expressed that they “stand by the accuracy of what we published” and that “we have carefully reviewed the published footage, and we have found no reason to believe Reuters longstanding commitment to accurate, unbiased journalism has been compromised.”</p>
632.  
633.  
634.  
635. <p>“Reuters withdrew these videos because it no longer held the legal permission to publish this copyrighted material, and as a global news agency, we are committed to respecting the intellectual property rights of others,” Reuters spokesperson Heather Carpenter told The Intercept.</p>
636.  
637.  
638.  
639.  
640.  
641.  
642.  
643. <p>Thomson Reuters, headquartered in Toronto, engages in an assortment of <a href="https://www.thomsonreuters.cn/zh.html">business ventures in China</a>, such as an AI-based legal “<a href="https://www.thomsonreuters.cn/zh/products-services/legal/cocounsel.html">co-counsel</a>” bot, “<a href="https://www.thomsonreuters.cn/zh/products-services/global-trade-management.html">global trade solutions</a>,” and legal research on Chinese law through its Westlaw product. The company maintains several offices in China, including in Shanghai, Beijing, and a Reuters news bureau in <a href="https://www.thomsonreuters.com/en/press-releases/2018/may/reuters-opens-new-bureau-in-shenzhen">Shenzhen</a>. The news organization is currently hiring for a <a href="https://careers.thomsonreuters.com/us/en/job/JREQ190888/Researcher-Beijing-Bureau">researcher</a> position at its Beijing bureau.</p>
644.  
645.  
646.  
647. <p>Reuters did not respond specifically when asked if its business interests played any interest in complying with the removal request.</p>
648.  
649.  
650.  
651.  <div class="promote-related-post">
652.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
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661.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Elon Musk Caves to Pressure From India to Remove BBC Doc Critical of Modi</h3>
662.    </span>
663.    </a>
664.  </div>
665.  
666.  
667.  
668. <p>This isn’t the first time Reuters has taken down content at the behest of international authorities. In 2023, Reuters published an <a href="https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-hackers-appin/">exposé</a> about the Indian cyber-espionage firm Appin. An Indian court deemed the article to be “indicative of defamation” and ordered that the article be removed. As the Freedom of the Press Foundation <a href="https://freedom.press/issues/global-censorship-campaign-raises-alarms/">highlighted</a>, even though Indian courts don’t have jurisdiction outside of India, Reuters removed the article not just in India but also worldwide. Once the injunction expired, Reuters reinstated the article.</p>
669.  
670.  
671.  
672. <p>The Chinese government has in the past <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/technology/reuters-websites-become-inaccessible-in-china-idUSKBN0MG0CV/">blocked Reuters news websites</a> on occasion for unspecified reasons.</p>
673.  
674.  
675.  
676. <p>Seth Stern, director of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation, said Reuters’ decision to remove the video is a blow to press freedom at a critical juncture.</p>
677.  
678.  
679.  
680. <p>“International news outlets have a responsibility to uphold press rights internationally, especially in times like these where press freedom is backsliding almost everywhere. Otherwise, journalism’s independence sinks to the lowest common denominator whenever news of global importance breaks in a country governed by a repressive regime.”</p>
681.  
682.  
683.  
684. <p>He cautioned that compliance with takedown requests is a slippery slope.</p>
685.  
686.  
687.  
688. <p>“What makes [Reuters] think the next censorial regime that might not like what it prints isn’t taking notes?” he asked.</p>
689.  
690.  
691.  
692. <p></p>
693. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/12/reuters-video-xi-putin-delete-takedown/">China Didn’t Want You to See This Video of Xi and Putin. So Reuters Deleted It.</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
694. ]]></content:encoded>
695.                                <wfw:commentRss>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/12/reuters-video-xi-putin-delete-takedown/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
696.                <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
697.                <media:content url='https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/AP25246393159091-e1757687078296.jpg?fit=2367%2C1183' width='2367' height='1183' /><post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">498820</post-id>
698. <media:content url="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BIx5nB4U4Mg" duration="127">
699. <media:player url="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BIx5nB4U4Mg" />
700. <media:title type="html">%%title%%</media:title>
701. <media:description type="html">Following a copyright takedown request, Reuters removed a hot mic video of Putin and Xi discussing life extension and immortality.</media:description>
702. <media:thumbnail url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/bix5nb4u4mg.jpg" />
703. <media:keywords>putin xi</media:keywords>
704. </media:content>
705. <media:thumbnail url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2221348960_94c72c-e1757705558549.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" />
706. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2221348960_94c72c-e1757705558549.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
707. <media:title type="html">US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (R), flanked by US President Donald Trump, speaks at a press conference during the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in The Hague on June 25, 2025. (Photo by JOHN THYS / AFP) (Photo by JOHN THYS/AFP via Getty Images)</media:title>
708. </media:content>
709. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2222497571-e1757608186419.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
710. <media:title type="html">WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 2: Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) walks into the office of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) at the U.S. Capitol Building on July 2, 2025 in Washington, DC. House Republicans began work on final passage of the &#34;One, Big, Beautiful Bill&#34; Act yesterday, less than two hours after the Senate passed its version of President Donald Trump&#039;s signature domestic agenda legislation. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)</media:title>
711. </media:content>
712. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-1848351309-e1757709459132.jpeg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
713. <media:title type="html">In this photo illustration from 2023, the logo of Proton Mail is seen displayed on a mobile phone screen with AI written in the background.</media:title>
714. </media:content>
715. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/GettyImages-1246273459-modi-BBC-elon.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
716.            </item>
717.        
718.            <item>
719.                <title><![CDATA[Alex Karp Insists Palantir Doesn’t Spy on Americans. Here’s What He’s Not Saying.]]></title>
720.                <link>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/12/palantir-spy-nsa-snowden-surveillance/</link>
721.                <comments>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/12/palantir-spy-nsa-snowden-surveillance/#respond</comments>
722.                <pubDate>Fri, 12 Sep 2025 14:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
723.                                    <dc:creator><![CDATA[Sam Biddle]]></dc:creator>
724.                                 <category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category>
725.  
726.                <guid isPermaLink="false"></guid>
727.                                    <description><![CDATA[<p>Documents from Edward Snowden published by The Intercept in 2017 show the NSA’s use of Palantir technology.</p>
728. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/12/palantir-spy-nsa-snowden-surveillance/">Alex Karp Insists Palantir Doesn’t Spy on Americans. Here’s What He’s Not Saying.</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
729. ]]></description>
730.                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[
731. <p><span class="has-underline">In an exchange</span> this week on “All-In Podcast,” Alex Karp was on the defensive. The Palantir CEO used the appearance to downplay and deny the notion that his company would engage in rights-violating in surveillance work.</p>
732.  
733.  
734.  
735. <p>“We are the single worst technology to use to abuse civil liberties, which is by the way the reason why we could never get the NSA or the FBI to actually buy our product,” Karp<a href="https://youtu.be/Y-IH7EVrBbQ?feature=shared&amp;t=909"> said</a>.</p>
736.  
737.  
738.  
739. <p>What he didn’t mention was the fact that a tranche of classified documents revealed by Edward Snowden and The Intercept in 2017 showed how Palantir software <a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/02/22/how-peter-thiels-palantir-helped-the-nsa-spy-on-the-whole-world/">helped</a> the National Security Agency and its allies spy on the entire planet.</p>
740.  
741.  
742.  
743. <p>Palantir has attracted increased scrutiny as the pace of its business with the federal government has <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/palantir-government-contracting-push/">surged</a> during the second Trump administration. In May, the New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/technology/trump-palantir-data-americans.html">reported</a> Palantir would play a central role in a White House plan to boost data sharing between federal agencies, “raising questions over whether he might compile a master list of personal information on Americans that could give him untold surveillance power.” Karp immediately rejected that report in a<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/05/palantir-karp-ai-dangerous-china.html"> June interview on CNBC</a> as “ridiculous shit,” adding that “if you wanted to use the deep state to unlawfully surveil people, the last platform on the world you would pick is Palantir.”</p>
744.  
745.  
746.  
747. <p>Karp made the same argument in this week’s podcast appearance, after “All-In” co-host David Sacks — the Trump administration AI and cryptocurrency czar — pressed him on matters of privacy, surveillance, and civil liberties. “One of the criticisms or concerns that I hear on the right or from civil libertarians is that Palantir has a large-scale data collection program on American citizens,” Sacks said.</p>
748.  
749.  
750.  
751. <p>Karp replied by alleging that he had been approached by a Democratic presidential administration and asked to build a database of Muslims. “We&#8217;ve never done anything like this. I&#8217;ve never done anything like this,” Karp said, arguing that safeguards built into Palantir would make it undesirable for signals intelligence. That’s when he said the company’s refusal to abuse civil liberties is “the reason why we could never get the NSA or the FBI to actually buy our product.”</p>
752.  
753.  
754.  
755. <p>Karp later stated: “To your questions, no, we are not surveilling,” taking a beat <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-IH7EVrBbQ&amp;t=1157s">before adding</a>, “uh, U.S. citizens.”</p>
756.  
757.  
758.  
759.  <div class="promote-related-post">
760.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
761.            href="https://theintercept.com/2017/02/22/how-peter-thiels-palantir-helped-the-nsa-spy-on-the-whole-world/"
762.      data-ga-track="in_article-body"
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766.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/PalantirEyeball-1487175789.gif?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
767.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
768.        Related      </h2>
769.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">How Peter Thiel’s Palantir Helped the NSA Spy on the Whole World</h3>
770.    </span>
771.    </a>
772.  </div>
773.  
774.  
775.  
776. <p>In 2017, The Intercept published documents originally provided by Snowden, a <a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/09/21/edward-snowden-permanent-record-book/">whistleblower</a> and former NSA contractor, demonstrating how Palantir software was used in conjunction with a signals intelligence tool codenamed XKEYSCORE, one of the most explosive revelations from the NSA whistleblower’s 2013 disclosures. XKEYSCORE provided the NSA and its foreign partners with a means of <a href="https://theintercept.com/2015/07/01/nsas-google-worlds-private-communications/">easily searching through immense troves of data and metadata</a> covertly siphoned across the entire global internet, from emails and Facebook messages to webcam footage and web browsing. A <a href="https://theintercept.com/document/xks-intro/">2008 NSA presentation</a> describes how XKEYSCORE could be used to detect “Someone whose language is out of place for the region they are in,” “Someone who is using encryption,” or “Someone searching the web for suspicious stuff.”</p>
777.  
778.  
779.  
780. <p>Later in 2017, <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/williamalden/palantirs-relationship-with-americas-spies">BuzzFeed News reported</a> Palantir’s working relationship with the NSA had ceased two years prior, citing an internal presentation delivered by Karp. Palantir did not provide comment for either The Intercept’s or BuzzFeed News’ reporting on its NSA work.</p>
781.  
782.  
783.  
784. <p>The Snowden documents describe how intelligence data queried through XKEYSCORE could be imported straight into Palantir software for further analysis. One document mentions use of Palantir tools in “Mastering The Internet,” a joint NSA/GCHQ mass surveillance <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/jun/21/gchq-cables-secret-world-communications-nsa">initiative</a> that included pulling data directly from the global fiber optic cable network that underpins the internet. References inside HTML files from the NSA’s Intellipedia, an in-house reference index, included multiple nods to the company, such as “Palantir Classification Helper,” “[Target Knowledge Base] to Palantir PXML,” and “PalantirAuthService.”</p>
785.  
786.  
787.  
788. <p>And although Karp scoffed at the idea that Palantir software would be suitable for “deep state” usage, a British intelligence document note also published by The Intercept<a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/02/22/how-peter-thiels-palantir-helped-the-nsa-spy-on-the-whole-world/"> quotes</a> GCHQ saying the company’s tools were developed “through [an] iterative collaboration between Palantir computer scientists and analysts from various intelligence agencies over the course of nearly three years.”</p>
789.  
790.  
791.  
792.  
793.  
794.  
795.  
796. <p>Karp’s carefully worded clarification that Palantir doesn’t participate in the surveillance of Americans specifically would have been difficult if not impossible for the company to establish with any certainty. From the moment of its disclosure, XKEYSCORE presented immense privacy and civil liberties threats, both to Americans and noncitizens alike. But in the United States, much of the debate centered around the question of how much data on U.S. citizens is ingested — intentionally or otherwise — by the NSA’s globe-spanning surveillance capabilities.</p>
797.  
798.  
799.  
800. <p>Even without the NSA directly targeting Americans, their online speech and other activity is swept up during the the agency’s efforts to spy on foreigners: say, if a U.S. citizen were to email a noncitizen who is later targeted by the agency. Even if the public takes the NSA at its word that it does not deliberately collect and process information on Americans through tools like XKEYSCORE, it claims the legal authority under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to subsequently <a href="https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/how-fbi-querying-under-fisa-section-702-works">share</a> such data it “incidentally” collects with other U.S. agencies, <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/01/27/fbi-government-spying-surveillance-702-fisa/">including the FBI</a>.</p>
801.  
802.  
803.  
804. <p>The legality of such collection remains <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/meet-executive-order-12333-the-reagan-rule-that-lets-the-nsa-spy-on-americans/2014/07/18/93d2ac22-0b93-11e4-b8e5-d0de80767fc2_story.html">contested</a>. Legal loopholes <a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/11/06/hamas-counterterrorism-mass-surveillance-section-702/">created in the name of counterterrorism</a> and national security leave large gaps through which the NSA and its partner agencies can effectively bypass legal protections against spying on Americans and the 4th Amendment’s guarantee against warrantless searches.</p>
805.  
806.  
807.  
808.  
809.  
810.  
811.  
812. <p>A 2014 <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/27/gchq-nsa-webcam-images-internet-yahoo">report</a> by The Guardian on the collection of webcam footage explained that GCHQ, the U.K.’s equivalent of the NSA, “does not have the technical means to make sure no images of UK or US citizens are collected and stored by the system, and there are no restrictions under UK law to prevent Americans&#8217; images being accessed by British analysts without an individual warrant.” The report notes “Webcam information was fed into NSA&#8217;s XKeyscore search tool.”</p>
813.  
814.  
815.  
816. <p>In 2021, the federal Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board concluded a five-year investigation into XKEYSCORE. In declassified remarks <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/nsa-surveillance-xkeyscore-privacy/2021/06/29/b2134e7a-d685-11eb-a53a-3b5450fdca7a_story.html">reported by the Washington Post</a>, Travis LeBlanc, a board member who took part in the inquiry, said the NSA&#8217;s analysis justifying XKEYSCORE’s legality “lacks any consideration of recent relevant Fourth Amendment case law on electronic surveillance that one would expect to be considered.”</p>
817.  
818.  
819.  
820. <p>“The former Board majority failed to ask critical questions like how much the program costs financially to operate, how many U.S. persons have been impacted by KEYSCORE,” his statement continued. “While inadvertently or incidentally intercepted communications of U.S. persons is a casualty of modern signals intelligence, the mere inadvertent or incidental collection of those communications does not strip affected U.S. persons of their constitutional or other legal rights.”</p>
821.  
822.  
823.  
824. <p>Palantir did not respond when asked by The Intercept about the discrepancy between its CEO’s public remarks and its documented history helping spy agencies at home and abroad use what the NSA once<a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/02/22/how-peter-thiels-palantir-helped-the-nsa-spy-on-the-whole-world/"> described</a> as its &#8220;widest reaching&#8221; tool.</p>
825. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/12/palantir-spy-nsa-snowden-surveillance/">Alex Karp Insists Palantir Doesn’t Spy on Americans. Here’s What He’s Not Saying.</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
826. ]]></content:encoded>
827.                                <wfw:commentRss>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/12/palantir-spy-nsa-snowden-surveillance/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
828.                <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
829.                <media:content url='https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/AP25217391955209-e1757624231280.jpg?fit=5472%2C2736' width='5472' height='2736' /><post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">498802</post-id>
830. <media:thumbnail url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/PalantirEyeball-1487175789.gif?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" />
831. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/PalantirEyeball-1487175789.gif?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
832. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2221348960_94c72c-e1757705558549.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
833. <media:title type="html">US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (R), flanked by US President Donald Trump, speaks at a press conference during the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in The Hague on June 25, 2025. (Photo by JOHN THYS / AFP) (Photo by JOHN THYS/AFP via Getty Images)</media:title>
834. </media:content>
835. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2222497571-e1757608186419.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
836. <media:title type="html">WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 2: Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) walks into the office of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) at the U.S. Capitol Building on July 2, 2025 in Washington, DC. House Republicans began work on final passage of the &#34;One, Big, Beautiful Bill&#34; Act yesterday, less than two hours after the Senate passed its version of President Donald Trump&#039;s signature domestic agenda legislation. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)</media:title>
837. </media:content>
838. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/crop-AP25246393159091-e1757703046180.webp?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
839.            </item>
840.        
841.            <item>
842.                <title><![CDATA[Gaza Aid Security Contractor Hired Members of “Islamophobic Hate Group” Biker Club, Dem Rep Says]]></title>
843.                <link>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/12/gaza-humanitarian-foundation-aid-ghf-infidels-security/</link>
844.                <comments>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/12/gaza-humanitarian-foundation-aid-ghf-infidels-security/#respond</comments>
845.                <pubDate>Fri, 12 Sep 2025 11:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
846.                                    <dc:creator><![CDATA[Matt Sledge]]></dc:creator>
847.                                 <category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
848. <category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
849.  
850.                <guid isPermaLink="false"></guid>
851.                                    <description><![CDATA[<p>At least 10 members of the Infidels worked in Gaza for GHF’s security contractor, the BBC reported, with seven in oversight roles.</p>
852. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/12/gaza-humanitarian-foundation-aid-ghf-infidels-security/">Gaza Aid Security Contractor Hired Members of “Islamophobic Hate Group” Biker Club, Dem Rep Says</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
853. ]]></description>
854.                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[
855. <p><span class="has-underline">Democratic lawmakers are</span> blasting a controversial Gaza aid group funded by the U.S. government for tapping armed members of a motorcycle club that one legislator called an “Islamophobic hate group.”</p>
856.  
857.  
858.  
859. <p>Sen. Pete Welch, D-Vt., and Rep. Sean Casten, D-Ill., said in statements that they were outraged that a contractor for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation employed members of the Infidels Motorcycle Club. At least 10 members of the Infidels were employed by the GHF’s security contractor, UG Solutions, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2zy4l8jgeo">according to a recent BBC report</a>.</p>
860.  
861.  
862.  
863. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-right"><blockquote><p>“It is unacceptable for the United States to fund an organization tied to an Islamophobic hate group.”</p></blockquote></figure>
864.  
865.  
866.  
867. <p>“It is unacceptable for the United States to fund an organization tied to an Islamophobic hate group,” Casten said in a statement to The Intercept.</p>
868.  
869.  
870.  
871. <p>Casten led an unsuccessful push this week to bar government funding for the aid group, and Welch has alleged that its employees may be <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/07/31/gaza-aid-security-firms-war-crimes-democrats/">complicit in Israeli war crimes</a>.</p>
872.  
873.  
874.  
875. <p>“The U.S. government is sending violent motorcycle gangs to Gaza in the middle of a famine,” Welch told The Intercept in a statement. “The American people deserve answers.”</p>
876.  
877.  
878.  
879. <p>In a statement to The Intercept, GHF said, &#8220;The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation maintains a strict zero-tolerance policy toward any form of hateful or discriminatory behavior.&#8221; The group said it was undertaking a review.</p>
880.  
881.  
882.  
883. <p>UG Solutions did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.</p>
884.  
885.  
886.  
887. <p>The legislators’ concern centers on the Infidels Motorcycle Club. The group has not been publicly designated as an outlaw motorcycle gang or accused of violence by law enforcement, but a <a href="https://theintercept.com/2015/05/22/atf-report-warned-military-government-membership-outlaw-motorcycle-gangs/">2014 report by federal authorities</a> said a chapter in Florida, where some of the Infidels in Gaza hail from, had been “observed riding and associating” with an outlaw gang.</p>
888.  
889.  
890.  
891. <p>The Infidels describe themselves as a club “for Patriotic Americans and our supporting allies” that is opposed to the “Jihadist movement” and “Islamic extremism.”</p>
892.  
893.  
894.  
895.  <div class="promote-related-post">
896.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
897.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/08/06/gaza-aid-security-contractor-mulford-ghf/"
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901.          >
902.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/signal-2025-08-06-155437-e1754528031536.jpeg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
903.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
904.        Related      </h2>
905.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Team Leader at Gaza Aid Distribution Sites Belongs to Anti-“Jihad” Motorcycle Club, Has Crusader Tattoos</h3>
906.    </span>
907.    </a>
908.  </div>
909.  
910.  
911.  
912. <p>Clad in Crusader-style crosses sewn to their jackets and tattooed on their skin, the Infidels cruise highways in 15 states and Germany.</p>
913.  
914.  
915.  
916. <p>More recently, a member employed by a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation contractor, Johnny Mulford, used the Infidels as a recruiting network to hire at least 10 club members for GHF, according to the BBC. (In a statement, GHF said, &#8220;Mr. Mulford has not been involved with GHF since August and we are actively reviewing additional allegations.&#8221;)</p>
917.  
918.  
919.  
920. <p>The Intercept <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/08/06/gaza-aid-security-contractor-mulford-ghf/">previously reported on Mulford’s membership in the Infidels</a> and leadership role at UG Solutions. Mulford and the Infidels did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.</p>
921.  
922.  
923.  
924. <p>Seven club members are in oversight positions at GHF aid sites in Gaza, the BBC reported. One club member posted on his Facebook page an image of contractors in Gaza posing with rifles and a &#8220;Make Gaza Great Again&#8221; sign.</p>
925.  
926.  
927.  
928.  
929.  
930.  
931.  
932. <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-palestinians-killed-near-aid-sites"><strong>Palestinians Killed Near Aid Sites</strong></h2>
933.  
934.  
935.  
936. <p>The involvement of Infidels members is especially troubling to critics of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation because of the Israeli-backed group’s <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/07/24/gaza-humanitarian-foundation-israel-aid-starvation/">record at aid distribution sites in Gaza</a>. Other aid groups have criticized the foundation for using a militarized model relying largely on American military veterans.</p>
937.  
938.  
939.  
940.  <div class="promote-related-post">
941.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
942.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/07/24/gaza-humanitarian-foundation-israel-aid-starvation/"
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948.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
949.        Related      </h2>
950.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Gaza Humanitarian Foundation Head Boasts Success as Palestinians Starve</h3>
951.    </span>
952.    </a>
953.  </div>
954.  
955.  
956.  
957. <p>At least 859 people have been killed near the foundation’s aid sites since it began distributing food in May, a group of United Nations experts <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/08/un-experts-call-immediate-dismantling-gaza-humanitarian-foundation">said last month</a>. The group claimed that Israeli forces and private security contractors were using “open indiscriminate fire on people seeking aid.” The U.N. group also <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/08/un-experts-alarmed-reports-enforced-disappearances-gaza-humanitarian">alleged</a> that there have also been forced disappearances at aid distribution sites.</p>
958.  
959.  
960.  
961. <p>The State Department approved $30 million in early funding for the foundation <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/08/us/usaid-gaza-humanitarian-foundation-israel-grant">despite an internal government assessment raising</a> “critical concerns” about its model.</p>
962.  
963.  
964.  
965. <p>The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/u-s-whistleblower-describes-chaos-and-reckless-force-at-gaza-aid-sites">denied</a> that any UG Solutions employees have shot Palestinians in Gaza. The group <a href="https://ghf.org/ghf-operational-update-wednesday-september-10-2025/">says </a>it has distributed 162 million meals to Palestinians.</p>
966.  
967.  
968. <!-- BLOCK(promote-post)[1](%7B%22componentName%22%3A%22PROMOTE_POST%22%2C%22entityType%22%3A%22SHORTCODE%22%2C%22optional%22%3Atrue%7D)(%7B%22slug%22%3A%22israel-palestine%22%2C%22crop%22%3A%22promo%22%7D) -->  <aside class="promote-banner">
969.    <a class="promote-banner__link" href="https://theintercept.com/collections/israel-palestine/">
970.              <span class="promote-banner__image">
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972.            <div class="promote-banner__text">
973.                  <p class="promote-banner__eyebrow">
974.            Read our complete coverage          </p>
975.        
976.        <h2 class="promote-banner__title">Israel’s War on Gaza</h2>
977.      </div>
978.    </a>
979.  </aside>
980. <!-- END-BLOCK(promote-post)[1] -->
981.  
982.  
983.  
984. <p>Earlier this week Casten, the Democratic representative, tried to offer an amendment to the annual defense budget bill that would bar further funding to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.</p>
985.  
986.  
987.  
988. <p>That push died in the Republican-controlled House Rules Committee before the <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/11/israel-boycott-bds-boebert/">broader bill was approved Wednesday</a>, a move that Casten criticized in a statement calling the Infidels an “Islamophobic hate group.”</p>
989.  
990.  
991.  
992. <p>&#8220;The United States must immediately halt all funding to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. GHF’s operations have caused deadly chaos at aid distribution sites,” Casten said. “House Republicans’ refusal to even allow a vote on my amendment to end GHF funding — and to ensure that humanitarian aid to Gaza is delivered through established and legitimate international organizations — is deeply disappointing and indefensible.”</p>
993.  
994.  
995.  
996. <p><strong>Update: September 12, 2025, 10:55 a.m. ET</strong><br><em>This story has been updated to include a statement from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.</em></p>
997. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/12/gaza-humanitarian-foundation-aid-ghf-infidels-security/">Gaza Aid Security Contractor Hired Members of “Islamophobic Hate Group” Biker Club, Dem Rep Says</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
998. ]]></content:encoded>
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1000.                <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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1005. <media:title type="html">US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (R), flanked by US President Donald Trump, speaks at a press conference during the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in The Hague on June 25, 2025. (Photo by JOHN THYS / AFP) (Photo by JOHN THYS/AFP via Getty Images)</media:title>
1006. </media:content>
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1008. <media:title type="html">WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 2: Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) walks into the office of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) at the U.S. Capitol Building on July 2, 2025 in Washington, DC. House Republicans began work on final passage of the &#34;One, Big, Beautiful Bill&#34; Act yesterday, less than two hours after the Senate passed its version of President Donald Trump&#039;s signature domestic agenda legislation. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)</media:title>
1009. </media:content>
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1011. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/GettyImages-2225506182-e1753308249668.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
1012. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?fit=300%2C150" medium="image">
1013. <media:title type="html">DEIR AL-BALAH, GAZA - NOVEMBER 7: Civil defense teams and citizens continue search and rescue operations after an airstrike hits the building belonging to the Maslah family during the 32nd day of Israeli attacks in Deir Al-Balah, Gaza on November 7, 2023. (Photo by Ashraf Amra/Anadolu via Getty Images)</media:title>
1014. </media:content>
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1016.        
1017.            <item>
1018.                <title><![CDATA[The Real Charlie Kirk]]></title>
1019.                <link>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/12/briefing-podcast-charlie-kirk/</link>
1020.                <comments>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/12/briefing-podcast-charlie-kirk/#respond</comments>
1021.                <pubDate>Fri, 12 Sep 2025 10:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
1022.                                    <dc:creator><![CDATA[The Intercept Briefing]]></dc:creator>
1023.                                 <category><![CDATA[The Intercept Briefing]]></category>
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1026.                                    <description><![CDATA[<p>Akela Lacy, Natasha Lennard, and Ali Breland on the weaponization of Kirk’s murder and increasing political violence. </p>
1027. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/12/briefing-podcast-charlie-kirk/">The Real Charlie Kirk</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
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1033. </div>
1034. <!-- END-BLOCK(acast)[0] -->
1035.  
1036.  
1037.  
1038. <p><span class="has-underline">After the fatal</span> shooting of right-wing personality Charlie Kirk on Wednesday afternoon, the rhetoric on the right quickly escalated. Influential voices on social media <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/11/charlie-kirk-killing-trump-left-political-violence/">declared war on the left</a>,<a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/11/charlie-kirk-killing-trump-left-political-violence/"> </a>despite the absence of any knowledge about the suspect or their motive at the time.&nbsp;</p>
1039.  
1040.  
1041.  
1042. <p>President Donald Trump made a formal address where he pledged to <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/video/6379075859112">go after </a>the “radical left.”&nbsp;</p>
1043.  
1044.  
1045.  
1046. <p>“We are seeing language weaponized so swiftly,” says Intercept columnist <a href="https://theintercept.com/staff/natasha-lennard/">Natasha Lennard</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
1047.  
1048.  
1049.  
1050. <p>“I think the Trump administration has a clear track record at this point of taking these little chips that they can leverage to induce state repression and encroach on civil liberties,” says <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/author/ali-breland/">Ali Breland</a>, a staff writer at The Atlantic.</p>
1051.  
1052.  
1053.  
1054. <p>This week on The Intercept Briefing, host Akela Lacy speaks to Lennard and Breland about the implications of Kirk’s killing and how we think about political violence in the U.S.&nbsp;</p>
1055.  
1056.  
1057.  
1058. <p>“We already know that whoever it does turn out to be, we are living in a moment with an authoritarian government that will weaponize this moment either way,” says Lennard. “This is about finding any opportunity to further escalate the white nationalist project.”</p>
1059.  
1060.  
1061.  
1062. <p>“I worry that his assassination is a progression toward something darker in which a wider group of people are considered to be targets for political violence,” says Breland. “And I don&#8217;t think that the rhetoric that&#8217;s coming out right now is doing anything to stop it or off-ramp us on this dark path.”</p>
1063.  
1064.  
1065.  
1066. <p>Listen to the full conversation of The Intercept Briefing on<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-intercept-briefing/id1195206601"> Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/2js8lwDRiK1TB4rUgiYb24?si=e3ce772344ee4170">Spotify</a>, or wherever you listen.&nbsp;</p>
1067.  
1068.  
1069.  
1070.  
1071.  
1072.  
1073.  
1074. <p><strong>Transcript</strong></p>
1075.  
1076.  
1077.  
1078. <p><strong>Akela Lacy :</strong> Welcome to The Intercept Briefing, I’m Akela Lacy.&nbsp;</p>
1079.  
1080.  
1081.  
1082. <p>On Wednesday afternoon, right-wing personality Charlie Kirk was killed at an event at Utah Valley University.&nbsp;</p>
1083.  
1084.  
1085.  
1086. <p>As news broke, many quickly deemed the shooting a political assassination. As of this recording, Thursday afternoon, the suspect and motive were still unknown. Despite that, Kirk’s killing set off dueling debates around political violence in the United States: Who wages it and how do we define it?&nbsp;</p>
1087.  
1088.  
1089.  
1090. <p>It also fueled a battle to define Kirk’s legacy. Kirk, who many have described as a conservative activist, often took far more extreme positions.&nbsp;</p>
1091.  
1092.  
1093.  
1094. <p>He had a long record of comments denigrating Black people, women, gay and trans people, and immigrants. Kirk’s group, Turning Point USA, pushed a Christian nationalist vision of America that, as we’ve discussed on this show, fuels a major part of the MAGA base. The <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/resources/reports/turning-point-usa-case-study-hard-right-2024/">Southern Poverty Law Center</a> wrote of the group: “[TPUSA] exploits complicated feelings of insecurity and anxiety to manufacture rage and mobilize support to revive and maintain a white-dominated, male supremacist, Christian social order.”</p>
1095.  
1096.  
1097.  
1098. <p>While Kirk started out in the more moderate wing in the conservative party, his politics grew more extreme as his reach exploded, particularly among young people on college campuses. Some on the far-right responded to Kirk’s killing by <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/far-right-reactions-charlie-kirk-shooting-civil-war/">declaring that war had arrived</a>.</p>
1099.  
1100.  
1101.  
1102. <p>In the wake of the shooting, many valorized Kirk’s legacy, sometimes framing him as, foremost, a deft political actor without accounting for the political implications of his rhetoric.</p>
1103.  
1104.  
1105.  
1106. <p>Joining me now to break all of this down is Ali Breland, a staff writer at The Atlantic, and Intercept columnist Natasha Lennard.</p>
1107.  
1108.  
1109.  
1110. <p>Welcome to the show Ali and Natasha.</p>
1111.  
1112.  
1113.  
1114. <p><strong>Natasha Lennard: </strong>Hello. Nice to be here.&nbsp;</p>
1115.  
1116.  
1117.  
1118. <p><strong>Ali Breland:</strong> Thank you for having me as well.&nbsp;</p>
1119.  
1120.  
1121.  
1122. <p><strong>AL:</strong> I want to note that we are speaking on Thursday, September 11.&nbsp;</p>
1123.  
1124.  
1125.  
1126. <p>Before we get into the shooting: Who is Charlie Kirk, and how did he rise to prominence in right wing political and intellectual spaces? Ali, I&#8217;d like to start with you.&nbsp;</p>
1127.  
1128.  
1129.  
1130. <p><strong>AB:</strong> Yeah, Charlie Kirk, he&#8217;s a lot of things at once, which makes him very valuable. So like very zoomed out: He is a connector. The zoomed-in version is that he&#8217;s this influencer who has risen to prominence by running a very successful podcast, running a very successful tour where he goes to different college events and college campuses and debate students from a right-wing perspective.</p>
1131.  
1132.  
1133.  
1134. <p>But then he also has built this extremely robust organization called Turning Point USA, which organizes student conservative groups and then also interfaces to some degree with administration officials. It&#8217;s become this really massively powerful organization on the right that is quite influential in both organizing [young] people to show up to the right-wing movement. But then potentially influencing policy in some cases and influencing the Trump administration.&nbsp;</p>
1135.  
1136.  
1137.  
1138. <p><strong>AL :</strong> Tash, how would you describe Kirk?&nbsp;</p>
1139.  
1140.  
1141.  
1142. <p><strong>NL:</strong> The way Ali put it is absolutely correct. He&#8217;s a huge force on the Trumpian right, particularly, representative of the upsurge of white nationalist, Christian nationalist young men, who he indeed committed his life to organizing, particularly focusing on college campuses. This is a man who engaged in a performance of debate. So he&#8217;s perhaps best known as one of the “debate me” right. I&#8217;ve always framed this — and continue to do so — as a shtick. I see it as window dressing. This is a performance by which he can move around colleges and condescend to young men and women at least a decade younger than him.&nbsp;</p>
1143.  
1144.  
1145.  
1146. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-right"><blockquote><p>“His actual commitment is to the broader Trumpian project, which is making the body politic and those permitted to speak within it as small as possible.”</p></blockquote></figure>
1147.  
1148.  
1149.  
1150. <p>But his actual commitment is to the broader Trumpian project, which is making the body politic and those permitted to speak within it as small as possible. So the elimination of trans people from public life as far as is possible — through policy and on university campuses and educational spaces in particular — extremely pro-Zionist, the <a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/03/28/safety-college-columbia-stanford-antisemitism-israel-palestine/">weaponization </a>of antisemitism on <a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/05/04/josh-gottheimer-mike-lawler-campus-protests/">college campuses</a> to silence pro-Palestinian speech, pro-mass incarceration, extraordinarily racist in comments he&#8217;s made around what constitutes crime and criminality, and a huge supporter of Trump&#8217;s deportation machine.&nbsp;</p>
1151.  
1152.  
1153.  
1154. <p>So we find ourselves at a moment within hours of his death when we don&#8217;t know who the shooter was. No one has been apprehended and identified at the time of speaking, but immediately the entire Trumpian right has jumped to demonize and lambast the entire broader left as somehow responsible.</p>
1155.  
1156.  
1157.  
1158. <p>And so it&#8217;s a dangerous moment.&nbsp;</p>
1159.  
1160.  
1161.  
1162. <p><strong>AL:</strong> We&#8217;re going to touch on that, but first I&#8217;ll go back to you, Ali. What was it about Kirk that was so enticing about his message and made and drew younger voters to him in particular?&nbsp;</p>
1163.  
1164.  
1165.  
1166. <p><strong>AB:</strong> Yeah. On some base level, it was just oratory, like just a radical scale — the ability to speak very well and speak convincingly and reduce complex ideas to this very simple palatable way of speaking.</p>
1167.  
1168.  
1169.  
1170. <p>I was just watching his memorial show, and the COO of Turning Point USA was talking about how one of his earlier conversations in the organization with Charlie, as they were founding TPUSA was specifically to create this — it was to make what they called like a battle tank instead of a think tank. And not just develop new ideas and policies, but develop this very convincing and palatable way of presenting it to make it more convincing to young people. And to get the quote that he said was, average Americans to engage with it and want to engage with it too.&nbsp;</p>
1171.  
1172.  
1173.  
1174. <p>Add on to what Natasha was saying earlier, the way that this manifested was both in, I think, more conventional and moderate ideas of conservatism, especially initially. Then as his project grew and as the years went on, he started to become much more extreme, but he still retained this influence in the more moderate conservative world. And I think that was really his value, was that he had a foot in understanding what was going on in the far-right internet and like figuring out how to, in a very savvy way, incorporate that into his project and speak to those people while also being respectable enough to get meetings with Don Jr. and the White House. And be seen as this more mainstream figure in a way that a lot of people with those views really can&#8217;t fully do and can&#8217;t fully stay in the mainstream.</p>
1175.  
1176.  
1177.  
1178. <p><strong>AL:</strong> Natasha, in the aftermath of the shooting, there&#8217;s been a lot of discussion about whether this will exacerbate political violence in the United States. I also want to mention, just as we&#8217;re talking about political violence and mass shootings within hours of this happening, there was a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/us/colorado-high-school-shooter-identified.html">shooting at a high school in Denver</a> that has been overshadowed in much of the coverage.</p>
1179.  
1180.  
1181.  
1182. <p>First, how do you each define political violence and where does hateful speech — racist, antisemitic, homophobic, transphobic speech — and the political effects of that speech fall here? Natasha, I&#8217;ll start with you.&nbsp;</p>
1183.  
1184.  
1185.  
1186. <p><strong>NL:</strong> I&#8217;ve always taken quite a kind of capacious view when thinking about political violence to the extent that after an assassination, a shooting like this, when we see politicians across the political spectrum, but even including Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez putting out messages — and they&#8217;re now platitudinous at this point — along the lines of “political violence has no space in this country,” it&#8217;s both misplaced and kind of risible.</p>
1187.  
1188.  
1189.  
1190. <p>This country is the home of so much political violence structurally so— through its foundations in Indigenous slaughter, slavery, exploitation, dispossession, mass shootings seen nowhere else on the planet and rates of incarceration seen nowhere else on the planet. So we can&#8217;t help ourselves to any space within this country that is not in some way ordered by and drenched in histories and continuities of political violence. Which makes it all the more dangerous in moments like this when events and dramatic events and high-octane events can be so weaponized to place the fault and the origins of political violence in one small corner, as we&#8217;ve seen the right immediately do. </p>
1191.  
1192.  
1193.  
1194. <p>But I do think in terms of, if we are thinking just empirically numbers wise, which we can&#8217;t ignore, it remains the case by a vast degree that the majority of politically motivated violent attacks in the most archetypal way of thinking about it, are still to this day committed by members of the far right and almost all cis men. That remains true despite far right claims to the opposite.&nbsp;</p>
1195.  
1196.  
1197.  
1198. <p><strong>AL:</strong> Ali, I want to bring you in here too. How do you define political violence? And I&#8217;ll bring up this question too, about where hateful speech and the effects of that speech fits into this picture, if at all? </p>
1199.  
1200.  
1201.  
1202. <p><strong>AB:</strong> Yeah, I mean, I think that there are tiers. I think that the most clear conventionally understood one is acts of physical violence that specifically bring harm onto individuals. So, you know, like assassinations, fighting or targeting people. And then there is a tier of a different type of violence that doesn&#8217;t show up in studies. And I think is still pernicious and bad, but it&#8217;s a distinct thing where you engage in this otherizing or marginalizing rhetoric that can both, I guess in its own way, feel violent, but then more importantly can induce or create the conditions to produce violence toward others.</p>
1203.  
1204.  
1205.  
1206. <p>But yeah, I think generally when I&#8217;m talking and thinking about political violence, especially right now, I&#8217;m thinking of it in the context of ascendant, like assassinations or in years of led context where there were these attacks and acts of terrorism in Italy or things like that.</p>
1207.  
1208.  
1209.  
1210. <p><strong>AL:</strong> Tash, after news broke that Kirk was shot and then died, influential right-wing personalities went on social media to declare war on the left, even though at the time the suspect and motive were still unknown. Then Donald Trump released a <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/video/6379075859112">video</a> amplifying those messages and said — in the broadest terms —that his administration would go after “the radical left” and the organizations that support them.</p>
1211.  
1212.  
1213.  
1214. <p>Many on the right are calling Kirk a martyr, which is a very loaded word. And I&#8217;ll just note as of this recording, the suspect is still unknown, but the FBI has released a photo of a person of interest. But Tash, how is this language being weaponized?</p>
1215.  
1216.  
1217.  
1218. <p><strong>NL:</strong> We are seeing language weaponized so swiftly. We&#8217;re seeing an almost immediate transmutation of an act of about which we know — at this time, at the time of speaking — almost nothing into a clear and highly and swiftly pronounced and announced political campaign. So you have people like <a href="https://x.com/LauraLoomer/status/1965893424042606861">Laura Loomer </a>calling essentially open season on the broadest framing of who could count for left. And blaming the entire left and anyone associated with it for this shooting.&nbsp;</p>
1219.  
1220.  
1221.  
1222.  <div class="promote-related-post">
1223.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
1224.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/11/charlie-kirk-killing-trump-left-political-violence/"
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1230.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
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1232.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Nothing Will Stop Trump From Weaponizing Charlie Kirk’s Killing to Attack the Left</h3>
1233.    </span>
1234.    </a>
1235.  </div>
1236.  
1237.  
1238.  
1239. <p>Donald Trump specifically in his public address spoke of the rhetoric as being responsible, spoke of terrorism. So all the words immediately marshaled speak to a very serious threat of political repression. You also had the Manhattan Institute’s <a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/06/08/christopher-rufo-nonprofit-dark-money/">Christopher Rufo</a> — famed of course, for turning critical race theory into a boogeyman across the country and informing the <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/05/30/rubio-trump-international-students-colleges/">attacks</a> we see <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/08/07/columbia-gaza-student-protests-expulsions-trump/">ongoing in higher education</a>; he very specifically called in no uncertain terms for a return of <a href="https://x.com/realchrisrufo/status/1965866248341987579">J. Edgar Hoover&#8217;s </a>approach to crushing left wing political activism. So these are open calls to revive some of what had been condemned as some of the darkest points of U.S. 20th century history, COINTELPRO-style tactics, McCarthyite repression. And you have influential figures in Trump&#8217;s universe saying we are not even pretending this isn&#8217;t exactly what we&#8217;re calling for.</p>
1240.  
1241.  
1242.  
1243. <p>I find it a very dangerous moment.&nbsp;</p>
1244.  
1245.  
1246.  
1247. <p><strong>AL:</strong> Ali, you&#8217;ve covered Kirk and the broader right. What do you make of this? How language is being weaponized in this moment and, as Natasha is speaking to, historically?</p>
1248.  
1249.  
1250.  
1251. <p><strong>AB:</strong> There&#8217;s like two different columns of things that I&#8217;m concerned by, and one of them is this rhetoric inducing literal violent backlash. And there being like a spiral of violence that people have talked about that, in addition to these big influential people who are the most important here, you can see this echoing down in less influential but still notable posters on the far right who maybe won&#8217;t do things themselves but have notable followings who are encouraging even more directly violent sentiment.</p>
1252.  
1253.  
1254.  
1255. <p>And then the other column Natasha talked about too is state repression. And this is being used as justification to just add a little bit onto what you said already. I think the Trump administration has a clear track record at this point of taking these little chips that they can leverage to induce state repression and encroach on civil liberties and trying to ride them as hard as they can.</p>
1256.  
1257.  
1258.  
1259. <p>So, Edward Coristine being attacked, the DOGE employee, was a little bit of the justification as to why <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/08/12/trump-washington-dc-national-guard-deploy-federalize/">federal agents </a>went into <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/08/20/trump-federalize-washington-dc-military-troops-cost/">Washington, D.C.</a> Charlie Kirk getting killed is a much bigger deal than that. That potentially gives them a bigger chip to use and I don&#8217;t see why they won&#8217;t, given their track record so far.</p>
1260.  
1261.  
1262.  
1263. <p><strong>AL:</strong> Ali, conspiracy theories over Kirk&#8217;s shooting sprang up instantly online. We also saw this in the case of the <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/06/20/minnesota-lawmaker-shootings-disinformation-taylor-lorenz/">shooting of the two Minnesota lawmakers</a> earlier this summer and with the <a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/08/16/trump-shooting-police-bodycam-video-secret-service/">shooting of Donald Trump</a> last year. What do you make of the way in which the absence of facts and information, misinformation and disinformation spreads today, and the way in which it is politicized?&nbsp;</p>
1264.  
1265.  
1266.  
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1277.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Naomi Klein on Conspiracy Culture and “the Mirror World”</h3>
1278.    </span>
1279.    </a>
1280.  </div>
1281.  
1282.  
1283.  
1284. <p><strong>AB:</strong> I think about this a lot, and I don&#8217;t — I want to have better answers for this than I do. But my basic answer is that it&#8217;s concerning. It&#8217;s not good. And I&#8217;ve observed this, other people have observed this. My colleague Charlie Warzel has written about this in different ways. But it increasingly seems like, or just seems like for lots of people, conspiracy theories are just the fundamental mode by which we process large, mainstream, hard-to-understand events in the news. And that there&#8217;s always a very, very notable set of people that will immediately come up with some conspiracy theory.</p>
1285.  
1286.  
1287.  
1288. <p>I saw on Threads this conspiracy went viral, that this is a false flag that is intentionally set down. And Charlie&#8217;s life was essentially sacrificed to allow the Trump administration carte blanche to do what it wants.</p>
1289.  
1290.  
1291.  
1292. <p>I think that the genesis point of this is political and it&#8217;s a sign of a society that is very unequal and unstable, but I just don&#8217;t feel confident in understanding completely what&#8217;s generating it, but I do feel confident it&#8217;s not good.&nbsp;</p>
1293.  
1294.  
1295.  
1296. <p><strong>AL:</strong> Tash, what are your thoughts?</p>
1297.  
1298.  
1299.  
1300. <p><strong>NL:</strong> Yes, just following on from what Ali said. It&#8217;s what drives this very conspiratorial moment and the leaps to assign a certain political narrative so quickly in the absence of knowledge, I think it would take libraries to really, really pick apart.</p>
1301.  
1302.  
1303.  
1304. <p>But I think what we can say already is that we don&#8217;t yet know who the shooter was. But we already know that whoever it does turn out to be, we are living in a moment with an authoritarian government that will weaponize this moment either way, and have decided to do so. So the facts of the matter, of course, are important, but will&nbsp;any sort of revelations regardless of who the shooter is shift this government, the Trump government and his acolytes, plans and policies and desires and inaction to further repress dissent — left-wing voices, marginalized voices, trans voices? Absolutely not. They&#8217;ve made this clear. This is not about what actually happened. This is about finding any opportunity to further escalate the white nationalist project, which is inherently violent, and indeed is the water in which such stochastic violent events can occur.</p>
1305.  
1306.  
1307.  
1308.  
1309.  
1310.  
1311.  
1312. <p>[Break]</p>
1313.  
1314.  
1315.  
1316. <p><strong>AL: </strong>Natasha, the killing happened when Kirk was speaking at Utah Valley University. How does the location of a college campus for this shooting affect the nature of the response given the role of colleges in historical social movements?&nbsp;</p>
1317.  
1318.  
1319.  
1320. <p><strong>NL:</strong> I&#8217;ll admit ignorance about any of the histories and specifics of this Utah college campus. I think, you know, Kirk, so much of his work, so much of his activism was centered around college campuses and holding forth and taking spaces there and producing a kind of a youth movement around his revanchist project — the rights’ revanchist project.&nbsp;</p>
1321.  
1322.  
1323.  
1324. <p>Obviously, we are at a moment, and have been particularly, in the nearly two years of genocide, <a href="https://theintercept.com/collections/israel-palestine/">Israel&#8217;s U.S.-backed genocide in Gaza</a> that campuses have become a site of political struggle and a site particularly of major conservative repression against left-wing speech, against pro-Palestinian speech. And the idea that they are — and this is a claim the right have been making, people like Christopher Rufo on the forefront of this for years, even before Trump’s second term and throughout the Biden administration — that college campuses are this threat, this site of massive communist liberatory risk to United States of America&#8217;s freedoms. Of course, we are at a moment of — and I teach at university in New York — 30 years of the neoliberalization of the university now further imperiled by far-right control, censorship, and attacks on academic freedom in the most extreme ways we&#8217;ve seen since McCarthyism at least.</p>
1325.  
1326.  
1327.  
1328. <p>So to have more grounds for censorship, alleged claims for needs for security on campuses, is no good thing, of course. But I just think we are likely to see more weaponization, more mischaracterizations from the right about university life in general.&nbsp;</p>
1329.  
1330.  
1331.  <aside class="promote-banner">
1332.    <a class="promote-banner__link" href="https://theintercept.com/collections/chilling-dissent/">
1333.              <span class="promote-banner__image">
1334.          <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="150" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?fit=300%2C150" class="attachment-medium size-medium" alt="" srcset="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=1536 1536w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=300 300w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=768 768w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=1024 1024w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=540 540w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=1000 1000w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />        </span>
1335.            <div class="promote-banner__text">
1336.                  <p class="promote-banner__eyebrow">
1337.            Read our complete coverage          </p>
1338.        
1339.        <h2 class="promote-banner__title">Chilling Dissent</h2>
1340.      </div>
1341.    </a>
1342.  </aside>
1343.  
1344.  
1345.  
1346. <p><strong>AL:</strong> You know, we touched on the issue of mass shootings as a uniquely American phenomenon. I mentioned this shooting in Colorado, which was the<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/10/us/at-least-2-students-shot-denver-area-high-school"> 47th shooting </a>to take place at a high school this year. There is such a disconnect between <a href="https://theintercept.com/2022/06/04/violence-america-school-shootings-covid-graphic-photos/">how numb we have become </a>to that kind of political violence where I don&#8217;t even think we consider — do we consider a mass shooting political violence, or do we just consider it a function of where we are? I don&#8217;t know if either of you have thoughts on that.&nbsp;</p>
1347.  
1348.  
1349.  
1350. <p><strong>AB:</strong> Yeah, I mean, it&#8217;s born of politics and it&#8217;s related to politics. I think it&#8217;s important to not lose sight of that distinction about how it is something that&#8217;s clearly like rot of what happens or is related to what happens in Washington.</p>
1351.  
1352.  
1353.  
1354. <p>Maybe to make too obvious of a point, I personally do think about it differently in that it seems to be making a sort of different point in most cases. Sometimes there&#8217;s crossover, but I guess it just depends. </p>
1355.  
1356.  
1357.  
1358. <p><strong>AL: </strong>Tash?</p>
1359.  
1360.  
1361.  
1362. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-left"><blockquote><p>“There is no apolitical or unpolitical mass shooting event in this country.&nbsp;”</p></blockquote></figure>
1363.  
1364.  
1365.  
1366. <p><strong>NL: </strong>I think we can talk about the fact of mass shootings in the U.S. as an unequivocally political morbid symptom that won&#8217;t stop without political intervention. But I agree with Ali. We can talk about politically motivated attacks in terms of what the politics of a given shooting involve, in terms of motivation, in terms of consequences. And again, with this particular shooting, the first aspect of who the shooter is and whatever motivations they might be, we don&#8217;t know. So yeah, I think it&#8217;s worth making those distinctions, but there is no apolitical or unpolitical mass shooting event in this country.&nbsp;</p>
1367.  
1368.  
1369.  
1370. <p><strong>AL:</strong> For both of you, I just want to ask for your final thoughts and what&#8217;s missing from this conversation that we haven&#8217;t touched on already.</p>
1371.  
1372.  
1373.  
1374. <p><strong>AB:</strong> I guess one of my final thoughts is that I&#8217;m concerned that this widens the aperture for the potential kinds of violence that can reverberate back into politics.</p>
1375.  
1376.  
1377.  
1378. <p>We&#8217;re already in an uptrend. More political violence has happened over the past several years than the past decade than it did prior. It&#8217;s at historical heights that we haven&#8217;t seen in decades. But it was contained, it was bad, but it was mostly contained to elected officials — with maybe some small exceptions, or in the case of <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/04/14/luigi-mangione-federal-death-penalty-trump/">Luigi Mangione</a>, a CEO who&#8217;s in a formal position of power.</p>
1379.  
1380.  
1381.  
1382. <p>Kirk retains power and influence but, I think, is in a less formal role, and I worry that his assassination is a progression toward something darker in which a wider group of people are considered to be targets for political violence. And I don&#8217;t think that the rhetoric that&#8217;s coming out right now is doing anything to stop it or off-ramp us on this dark path.&nbsp;</p>
1383.  
1384.  
1385.  
1386. <p><strong>AL: </strong>Tash?</p>
1387.  
1388.  
1389.  
1390. <p><strong>NL:&nbsp;</strong>Yes, I would agree. And, any escalations, especially given the asymmetries of power, and indeed the asymmetries of gun power in this country, mean that any sort of escalation and spiral further toward that direction puts those who are already more vulnerable at higher risk. And again, political violence or politically motivated violence, even in the most traditionally understood terms — the sorts of which is tracked by the ADL historically, which is the conservative Anti-Defamation League — still has far-right motivated attacks against masses of people and against minorities as the overwhelming majority. So I think that we are not seeing a specific trend away from that, but any sort of escalation is dangerous and all the more dangerous at this moment.</p>
1391.  
1392.  
1393.  
1394. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-right"><blockquote><p>“What we do not need is the whitewashing of Charlie Kirk’s politics to make it sound like he was open-minded.”</p></blockquote></figure>
1395.  
1396.  
1397.  
1398. <p>What we do not need is the whitewashing of Charlie Kirk’s politics to make it sound like he was open-minded, invested in a broad and robust public in which people have equal access to speech, learning, and education. That is not the man who was killed yesterday. Nor is it the job of Democrat leaders to scramble into those hagiographic performances at a moment where they should be attending very, very quickly to their constituents and their most vulnerable constituents — to protect them from the very kind of world that some of Charlie Kirk&#8217;s worst supporters and worst defenders in his life would have wanted to see come into being. And again, that is a world that is crueler, whiter, and less inclusive of huge swaths of millions of Americans and the people that live here. And I think that&#8217;s who we should be protecting and thinking about right now.&nbsp;</p>
1399.  
1400.  
1401.  
1402. <p><strong>AL:</strong> Thank you both. We are going to leave it there. We really appreciate you taking the time, and thank you for joining me on the Intercept Briefing.</p>
1403.  
1404.  
1405.  
1406. <p><strong>AB:</strong> Thank you so much. It was great.&nbsp;</p>
1407.  
1408.  
1409.  
1410. <p><strong>NL: </strong>Thanks.&nbsp;</p>
1411.  
1412.  
1413.  
1414. <p><strong>AL:</strong> That does it for this episode of The Intercept Briefing.&nbsp;</p>
1415.  
1416.  
1417.  
1418. <p>We want to hear from you.&nbsp;</p>
1419.  
1420.  
1421.  
1422. <p>Share your story with us at 530-POD-CAST. That’s&nbsp;530-763-2278. You can also email us at podcasts@theintercept.com.</p>
1423.  
1424.  
1425.  
1426. <p>This episode was produced by Laura Flynn. Sumi Aggarwal is our executive producer. Ben Muessig is our editor-in-chief. Chelsey B. Coombs is our social and video producer. Fei Liu is our product and design manager. Nara Shin is our copy editor. Will Stanton mixed our show. Legal review by Shawn Musgrave.&nbsp;</p>
1427.  
1428.  
1429.  
1430. <p>Slip Stream provided our theme music.</p>
1431.  
1432.  
1433.  
1434. <p>You can support our work at <a href="https://join.theintercept.com/donate/Donate_Podcast?source=interceptedshoutout&amp;recurring_period=one-time">theintercept.com/join.</a> Your donation, no matter the amount, makes a real difference. If you haven’t already, please subscribe to The Intercept Briefing wherever you listen to podcasts. And tell all of your friends about us, and better yet, leave us a rating or a review to help other listeners find our reporting.</p>
1435.  
1436.  
1437.  
1438. <p>Until next time, I’m Akela Lacy.&nbsp;</p>
1439.  
1440.  
1441.  
1442. <p>Thanks for listening.</p>
1443.  
1444.  
1445.  
1446. <p></p>
1447. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/12/briefing-podcast-charlie-kirk/">The Real Charlie Kirk</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
1448. ]]></content:encoded>
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1450.                <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
1451.                <media:content url='https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Charlie-Kirk.jpg?fit=2000%2C1000' width='2000' height='1000' /><post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">498805</post-id>
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1453. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2221348960_94c72c-e1757705558549.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
1454. <media:title type="html">US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (R), flanked by US President Donald Trump, speaks at a press conference during the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in The Hague on June 25, 2025. (Photo by JOHN THYS / AFP) (Photo by JOHN THYS/AFP via Getty Images)</media:title>
1455. </media:content>
1456. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2222497571-e1757608186419.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
1457. <media:title type="html">WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 2: Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) walks into the office of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) at the U.S. Capitol Building on July 2, 2025 in Washington, DC. House Republicans began work on final passage of the &#34;One, Big, Beautiful Bill&#34; Act yesterday, less than two hours after the Senate passed its version of President Donald Trump&#039;s signature domestic agenda legislation. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)</media:title>
1458. </media:content>
1459. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/crop-AP25246393159091-e1757703046180.webp?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
1460. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/signal-2025-09-10-235157-e1757569992454.jpeg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
1461. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/deconstructed-naomi-klein-doppelganger.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
1462. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?fit=300%2C150" medium="image" />
1463.            </item>
1464.        
1465.            <item>
1466.                <title><![CDATA[Charlie Kirk’s Assassination Is Part of a Trend: Spiking Gun Violence in Red States]]></title>
1467.                <link>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/12/charlie-kirk-gun-violence-red-states/</link>
1468.                <comments>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/12/charlie-kirk-gun-violence-red-states/#respond</comments>
1469.                <pubDate>Fri, 12 Sep 2025 09:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
1470.                                    <dc:creator><![CDATA[Alain Stephens]]></dc:creator>
1471.                                 <category><![CDATA[Justice]]></category>
1472. <category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
1473. <category><![CDATA[Voices]]></category>
1474.  
1475.                <guid isPermaLink="false"></guid>
1476.                                    <description><![CDATA[<p>It’s not Washington or Chicago but Republican-run, reliably right-wing states that lead the nation in gun violence rates.</p>
1477. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/12/charlie-kirk-gun-violence-red-states/">Charlie Kirk’s Assassination Is Part of a Trend: Spiking Gun Violence in Red States</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
1478. ]]></description>
1479.                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[
1480. <figure class="wp-block-ft-photo is-style-default">
1481.    <img decoding="async"
1482.    src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-1231933509-a.jpg?fit=6000%2C4000"
1483.    srcset="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-1231933509-a.jpg?w=6000 6000w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-1231933509-a.jpg?w=300 300w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-1231933509-a.jpg?w=768 768w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-1231933509-a.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-1231933509-a.jpg?w=1536 1536w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-1231933509-a.jpg?w=2048 2048w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-1231933509-a.jpg?w=540 540w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-1231933509-a.jpg?w=1000 1000w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-1231933509-a.jpg?w=2400 2400w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-1231933509-a.jpg?w=3600 3600w"
1484.    sizes="auto, (min-width: 1300px) 650px, (min-width: 800px) 64vw, (min-width: 500px) calc(100vw - 5rem), calc(100vw - 3rem)"
1485.    alt="A salesperson takes an AR-15 rifle off the wall at a store in Orem, Utah, U.S., on Thursday, March 25, 2021. Two mass shootings in one week are giving Democrats new urgency to pass gun control legislation, but opposition from Republicans in the Senate remains the biggest obstacle to any breakthrough in the long-stalled debate. Photographer: George Frey/Bloomberg via Getty Images"
1486.    width="6000"
1487.    height="4000"
1488.    loading="lazy"
1489.  />
1490.      <figcaption class="photo__figcaption">
1491.      <span class="photo__caption">A salesperson takes an AR-15 rifle off the wall at a store in Orem, Utah, on March 25, 2021.</span>&nbsp;<span class="photo__credit">Photo: George Frey/Bloomberg via Getty Images</span>    </figcaption>
1492.    </figure>
1493.  
1494.  
1495.  
1496. <p><span class="has-underline">Conservative America was</span> shaken this week when Charlie Kirk, a prominent ally of President Donald Trump, was shot and killed during a campus event at Utah Valley University.&nbsp;</p>
1497.  
1498.  
1499.  
1500. <p>The incident recalls a disturbing pattern: Even the champions of “pro-gun” politics are not immune to America’s epidemic of gun violence.&nbsp;</p>
1501.  
1502.  
1503.  
1504. <p>Just last year, Trump narrowly <a href="https://taskforce.house.gov/">survived</a> an assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania rally. Four decades ago, Ronald Reagan was shot and nearly killed by a would-be assassin. More recently, in 2017, a far-left gunman opened fire on Republican members of Congress at a baseball practice, critically wounding House Majority Whip Steve Scalise. From Gerald Ford, who survived<a href="https://www.history.com/articles/gerald-ford-assassination-attempts-1975-lessons"> two separate</a> assassination attempts in one month in 1975, to local GOP staffers dying in <a href="https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/watch-live-us-attorney-pirro-giving-update-on-dc-deadly-shooting-of-congressional-intern/3984443/">common gun crime</a>, the list of right-wing political figures hit by gun violence is a long one.</p>
1505.  
1506.  
1507.  
1508. <p>These bloody episodes underscore a grim irony: The very politicians and pundits who promulgate expansive gun rights and tough-on-crime rhetoric have repeatedly found themselves on the receiving end of bullets.</p>
1509.  
1510.  
1511.  
1512. <p>These attacks have grabbed headlines, but there are other conservative victims of gun violence whose stories often go unmentioned — many of them. They are the rank-and-file of the GOP, the voters who put the elected officials in office and follow the likes of Kirk on social media.&nbsp;</p>
1513.  
1514.  
1515.  
1516. <p>It is the residents of conservative America — the so-called “red states” — who are suffering the heaviest toll in daily gun deaths.</p>
1517.  
1518.  
1519.  
1520. <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-gun-violence-gap"><strong>Gun Violence Gap</strong></h2>
1521.  
1522.  
1523.  
1524. <p>Despite rhetoric <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/03/trump-military-occupy-dc-la-chicago/">painting</a> liberal <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/08/11/trump-washington-dc-federalization-national-guard-troops/">big cities</a> as <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/08/trump-chicago-ice-dhs-apocalypse-now/">lawless</a> war <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/08/12/trump-washington-dc-national-guard-deploy-federalize/">zones</a>, the most dangerous places in America in terms of gun violence are often deep-red states and rural towns.</p>
1525.  
1526.  
1527.  
1528. <p>Federal health data reveal that states with conservative leadership consistently have higher firearm death rates than their blue-state counterparts.&nbsp;</p>
1529.  
1530.  
1531.  
1532. <p>In 2021, eight of the 10 states with the highest gun death rates per capita were won by Trump in the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/118/meeting/house/116676/documents/HHRG-118-JU08-20231213-SD004.pdf">2020 election</a>. Mississippi — with a staggering 33.9 per 100,000 firearm death rate, the worst in the nation — voted solidly Republican. By contrast, states with the lowest gun death rates — like Massachusetts, at 3.4 per 100,000 — reliably vote Democratic.</p>
1533.  
1534.  
1535.  
1536. <p>This pattern holds nationwide. Public health research confirms that states in the South and Mountain West with weaker gun laws and higher gun ownership have the highest gun death rates, whereas Northeast states with strong gun safety laws see far fewer deaths.&nbsp;</p>
1537.  
1538.  
1539.  
1540. <p>In other words, the “gun-friendly” policies of red America correlate with more funerals and grieving families, year after year.</p>
1541.  
1542.  
1543.  
1544.  
1545.  
1546.  
1547.  
1548. <p>Crucially, this gap isn’t just about suicides in isolated areas; it extends to violent crime and murders as well. A <a href="https://www.thirdway.org/report/the-21st-century-red-state-murder-crisis">recent analysis</a> of homicide data found that the murder rate in Republican-voting states — such as Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama — was 33 percent higher than in Democratic-voting states in both 2021 and 2022.</p>
1549.  
1550.  
1551.  
1552. <p>Even when researchers control for big urban centers, the red-state murder problem persists. Remove the largest city from every red state, and their homicide rate still far exceeds that of blue states.&nbsp;</p>
1553.  
1554.  
1555.  
1556. <p>The notion that “<a href="https://www.facebook.com/reel/1105925854412039/">Democrat-run cities</a>” alone drive violence collapses under scrutiny. People are statistically safer in New York City or San Francisco than in many rural or Southern Republican-led states.</p>
1557.  
1558.  
1559.  
1560. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote"><blockquote><p>People are statistically safer in New York City or San Francisco than in many rural or Southern Republican-led states.</p></blockquote></figure>
1561.  
1562.  
1563.  
1564. <p>A <a href="https://www.publichealth.columbia.edu/news/gun-deaths-more-likely-small-towns-major-cities#:~:text=journal%20JAMA%20Surgery">groundbreaking study</a> also found that firearm fatalities are now more likely in small rural towns than in big cities — a reversal of historical trends. Thanks largely to soaring gun suicides, the most rural counties experienced overall firearm death rates 25 percent higher than the most urban counties in recent decades. That means the archetypal “American heartland” — often solid Republican territory — quietly endures a higher per-capita burden of gun death than metropolises like Los Angeles or New York.</p>
1565.  
1566.  
1567.  
1568. <p>The carnage encompasses tragic self-inflicted shootings, domestic violence with firearms, and, yes, the <a href="https://theintercept.com/2022/05/26/ar-15-uvalde-school-shooting-vietnam-war/">mass shootings</a> that now regularly strike <a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/01/10/would-dylann-roofs-execution-bring-justice-families-of-victims-grapple-with-forgiveness-and-death/">church gatherings</a>, small-town Walmarts, and <a href="https://theintercept.com/2022/05/25/texas-uvalde-shooting-school-police/">school classrooms </a>in conservative communities.&nbsp;</p>
1569.  
1570.  
1571.  
1572. <p>No corner of the country is spared, but red America is bleeding most.</p>
1573.  
1574.  
1575.  
1576. <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-paradox-of-pro-gun-politics"><strong>Paradox of Pro-Gun Politics</strong></h2>
1577.  
1578.  
1579.  
1580. <p>Why do those who govern the most gun-afflicted states seem least inclined to acknowledge the crisis?</p>
1581.  
1582.  
1583.  
1584. <p>Republican leaders have long styled themselves as the party of “law and order,” yet they preside over what one analyst dubbed a “<a href="https://www.thirdway.org/report/the-two-decade-red-state-murder-problem">red state murder problem</a>.” They champion the <a href="https://theintercept.com/2022/06/24/supreme-court-gun-second-amendment-bruen/">Second Amendment</a> as a sacred pillar of freedom, but fail to target root causes that contribute to homicide and suicide rates that dwarf those in other advanced nations.&nbsp;</p>
1585.  
1586.  
1587.  
1588. <p>The Trump administration&#8217;s response to violence has instead been to deploy federal agents into conducting roving patrols in democratic strongholds such as Washington to help enforce some of the <a href="https://x.com/AGPamBondi/status/1957783377764851940?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1957783377764851940%7Ctwgr%5Ee6b604b943dd30b9e8ea0b61d6584516e33bc711%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fox5dc.com%2Fnews%2Fbondi-465-arrests-68-guns-seized-since-trumps-dc-crackdown-began">country&#8217;s most restrictive gun laws</a>. Meanwhile, Trump and the GOP are hobbling the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives by leaving it <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/09/kash-patel-director-atf-bureau-removal">without a leader</a>; legalizing <a href="https://smokinggun.org/trump-doj-legalizes-forced-reset-triggers/?_gl=1*1pm602*_ga*MjE1OTAxOTguMTc1NzM3MzI1OQ..*_ga_68QYBV181T*czE3NTc1NDY5ODEkbzIkZzAkdDE3NTc1NDY5ODIkajU5JGwwJGgw">fully automatic</a> <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/6-things-to-know-about-the-supreme-courts-decision-on-bump-stocks">simulation devices</a>; and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/07/trump-gun-violence-federal-programs">cutting key research</a> into understanding and preventing violence.&nbsp;</p>
1589.  
1590.  
1591.  
1592. <p>It’s a cruel paradox. The right wing’s permissive gun policies have boomeranged to haunt their own constituents and politicians.</p>
1593.  
1594.  
1595.  
1596.  <div class="promote-related-post">
1597.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
1598.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/11/charlie-kirk-killing-trump-left-political-violence/"
1599.      data-ga-track="in_article-body"
1600.      data-ga-track-action="related post embed: charlie-kirk-killing-trump-left-political-violence"
1601.      data-ga-track-label="charlie-kirk-killing-trump-left-political-violence"
1602.          >
1603.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/signal-2025-09-10-235157-e1757569992454.jpeg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
1604.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
1605.        Related      </h2>
1606.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Nothing Will Stop Trump From Weaponizing Charlie Kirk’s Killing to Attack the Left</h3>
1607.    </span>
1608.    </a>
1609.  </div>
1610.  
1611.  
1612.  
1613. <p>When even a figure like Kirk — who once declared that <a href="https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/charlie-kirk-gun-deaths-quote/">more armed citizens make us safer</a> — ends up bleeding from a bullet wound, it highlights how indiscriminate and all-encompassing America’s gun scourge has become.&nbsp;</p>
1614.  
1615.  
1616.  
1617. <p>The victims are subsequently left with no solace. This year, the Trump administration shut down the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/trump-administration-slashed-federal-funding-gun-violence-prevention-2025-07-29/">slashed $158 million</a> in gun violence prevention grants.</p>
1618.  
1619.  
1620.  
1621. <p>Rather than face the uncomfortable reality that easy access to firearms, poor gun trafficking controls, and under-resourced research is fueling more death in red states, GOP officials often deflect to problems in blue cities or pin violence on mental health alone. The numbers, though, don’t lie.&nbsp;</p>
1622.  
1623.  
1624.  
1625. <p>Those “pro-life” conservative lawmakers have effectively enacted policies that make their communities less safe, with more grieving parents, more emptied school desks, and more devastated towns as the predictable outcome.</p>
1626.  
1627.  
1628.  
1629.  
1630.  
1631.  
1632.  
1633. <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-bullets-know-no-politics"><strong>Bullets Know No Politics</strong></h2>
1634.  
1635.  
1636.  
1637. <p>It’s increasingly apparent that the right wing’s embrace of guns has exacted a disproportionate price on its own side. From the would-be assassins targeting GOP presidents to the quiet epidemic of firearm suicide among rural white men — a demographic that leans conservative — American gun culture is, in a dark twist, victimizing the very communities that most fiercely defend it.</p>
1638.  
1639.  
1640.  
1641.  <div class="promote-related-post">
1642.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
1643.            href="https://theintercept.com/2017/10/04/intercepted-podcast-guns-before-country/"
1644.      data-ga-track="in_article-body"
1645.      data-ga-track-action="related post embed: intercepted-podcast-guns-before-country"
1646.      data-ga-track-label="intercepted-podcast-guns-before-country"
1647.          >
1648.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Episode-30_Guns-Before-Country-1507084957.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
1649.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
1650.        Related      </h2>
1651.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Intercepted Podcast: Guns Before Country</h3>
1652.    </span>
1653.    </a>
1654.  </div>
1655.  
1656.  
1657.  
1658. <p>If this country is going to surmount its gun violence crises, it must confront an uncomfortable truth: The people of red America are not being protected by the gun-centric promises of the far right — they are being buried by them.&nbsp;</p>
1659.  
1660.  
1661.  
1662. <p>How many more Republican politicians must be rushed to the ER with gunshot wounds? How many small-town obituaries must quietly note a firearm tragedy, before ideology yields to reality?&nbsp;</p>
1663.  
1664.  
1665.  
1666. <p>The right’s reflexive answers to any shooting — more patrols, militarized police, more guns, and less firearm regulation — are looking less like freedom and more like a death pact. Until conservatives reckon with this, the cycle will continue. The communities they lead will continue to suffer the highest rates of murder and suicide, and even their most venerated leaders will remain in the line of fire. </p>
1667.  
1668.  
1669.  
1670. <p>In the end, America’s gun violence crisis is not a red or blue issue. Right now, however, red America is paying the steepest price. The hope is that acknowledging this truth could spur the kind of cross-partisan soul-searching and reform that has so far proved elusive.&nbsp;</p>
1671.  
1672.  
1673.  
1674. <p>Until then, the grim paradox persists. The loudest champions of an absolutist gun culture are among its foremost casualties.</p>
1675. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/12/charlie-kirk-gun-violence-red-states/">Charlie Kirk’s Assassination Is Part of a Trend: Spiking Gun Violence in Red States</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
1676. ]]></content:encoded>
1677.                                <wfw:commentRss>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/12/charlie-kirk-gun-violence-red-states/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
1678.                <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
1679.                <media:content url='https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-1231933509-e1757617670376.jpg?fit=3000%2C1500' width='3000' height='1500' /><post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">498787</post-id>
1680. <media:thumbnail url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-1231933509-a.jpg?fit=6000%2C4000" />
1681. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-1231933509-a.jpg?fit=6000%2C4000" medium="image">
1682. <media:title type="html">A salesperson takes an AR-15 rifle off the wall at a store in Orem, Utah, U.S., on Thursday, March 25, 2021. Two mass shootings in one week are giving Democrats new urgency to pass gun control legislation, but opposition from Republicans in the Senate remains the biggest obstacle to any breakthrough in the long-stalled debate. Photographer: George Frey/Bloomberg via Getty Images</media:title>
1683. </media:content>
1684. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2221348960_94c72c-e1757705558549.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
1685. <media:title type="html">US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (R), flanked by US President Donald Trump, speaks at a press conference during the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in The Hague on June 25, 2025. (Photo by JOHN THYS / AFP) (Photo by JOHN THYS/AFP via Getty Images)</media:title>
1686. </media:content>
1687. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2222497571-e1757608186419.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
1688. <media:title type="html">WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 2: Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) walks into the office of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) at the U.S. Capitol Building on July 2, 2025 in Washington, DC. House Republicans began work on final passage of the &#34;One, Big, Beautiful Bill&#34; Act yesterday, less than two hours after the Senate passed its version of President Donald Trump&#039;s signature domestic agenda legislation. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)</media:title>
1689. </media:content>
1690. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/crop-AP25246393159091-e1757703046180.webp?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
1691. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/signal-2025-09-10-235157-e1757569992454.jpeg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
1692. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Episode-30_Guns-Before-Country-1507084957.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
1693.            </item>
1694.        
1695.            <item>
1696.                <title><![CDATA[The House Just Passed a Bill Punishing “Politically Motivated” Boycotts of Israel]]></title>
1697.                <link>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/11/israel-boycott-bds-boebert/</link>
1698.                <comments>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/11/israel-boycott-bds-boebert/#respond</comments>
1699.                <pubDate>Thu, 11 Sep 2025 17:57:44 +0000</pubDate>
1700.                                    <dc:creator><![CDATA[Matt Sledge]]></dc:creator>
1701.                                 <category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
1702. <category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
1703.  
1704.                <guid isPermaLink="false"></guid>
1705.                                    <description><![CDATA[<p>Far-right Rep. Lauren Boebert added an amendment to the Pentagon budget that targets the BDS movement against Israel.</p>
1706. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/11/israel-boycott-bds-boebert/">The House Just Passed a Bill Punishing “Politically Motivated” Boycotts of Israel</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
1707. ]]></description>
1708.                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[
1709. <p><span class="has-underline">In a first</span> step toward a federal law punishing criticism of Israel, the House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a massive defense budget that would bar companies engaged in &#8220;politically motivated&#8221; boycotts of the country from Pentagon contracts.</p>
1710.  
1711.  
1712.  
1713. <p>The bill would effectively ban contractors boycotting Israel from tapping most federal contract dollars, since <a href="https://www.gao.gov/federal-contracting">more than half</a> of the $755 billion the U.S. government spent on contracts last year flowed through the Defense Department.</p>
1714.  
1715.  
1716.  
1717. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-right"><blockquote><p>“This amendment is really designed to shield Israel from any accountability.”</p></blockquote></figure>
1718.  
1719.  
1720.  
1721. <p>The ban, the latest legislative attempt to target the <a href="https://theintercept.com/2018/12/14/bds-israel-boycott-ilhan-omar-rashida-tlaib/">Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement</a> against Israel’s human rights violations, or BDS, would still have to pass the Senate. The upper chamber was debating its own version of the budget bill on Thursday that does not include an anti-BDS provision.</p>
1722.  
1723.  
1724.  
1725. <p>Critics predict a court challenge if the anti-boycott provision makes it into law.</p>
1726.  
1727.  
1728.  
1729. <p>“This amendment is really designed to shield Israel from any accountability by penalizing those who protest its violations of Palestinian human rights through boycotts, which should be protected by the First Amendment,” said Hassan El-Tayyab, the legislative director for Middle East policy at the Friends Committee on National Legislation.</p>
1730.  
1731.  
1732.  
1733.  
1734.  
1735.  
1736.  
1737. <p>The anti-BDS provision was spearheaded by Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., whose office did not respond to a request for comment.</p>
1738.  
1739.  
1740.  
1741. <p>Boebert’s measure received <a href="https://www.congress.gov/119/crec/2025/09/09/171/147/CREC-2025-09-09.pdf">no discussion</a> when it was approved by the House on a voice vote as part of a package of amendments to the budget bill Tuesday. The House went on to pass the full, amended version of the National Defense Authorization Act on Wednesday night.</p>
1742.  
1743.  
1744.  
1745.  <div class="promote-related-post">
1746.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
1747.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/10/eu-us-gaza-israel-qatar-bombing/"
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1750.      data-ga-track-label="eu-us-gaza-israel-qatar-bombing"
1751.          >
1752.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2234016128-e1757536506139.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
1753.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
1754.        Related      </h2>
1755.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">EU Leader Calls to Sanction Israel as U.S. Progressives Push to End Arms Sales</h3>
1756.    </span>
1757.    </a>
1758.  </div>
1759.  
1760.  
1761.  
1762. <p>The overall bill passed 231–196, with <a href="https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2025262">support from 214 Republicans and 17 Democrats</a>.</p>
1763.  
1764.  
1765.  
1766. <p>El-Tayyab said that passing the anti-boycott provision in such a rushed manner did a “real disservice to the American people, especially people that are engaged in protesting an unfolding genocide going on in Gaza.”</p>
1767.  
1768.  
1769.  
1770. <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-anti-bds-laws">Anti-BDS Laws</h2>
1771.  
1772.  
1773.  
1774. <p>Bills targeting the BDS movement have passed many state legislatures. Some seek to bar people or companies supporting BDS from winning government contracts, leading critics of the laws to argue that they <a href="https://theintercept.com/2021/11/29/boycott-film-bds-israel-palestine/">violate the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech</a> by punishing political views.</p>
1775.  
1776.  
1777.  
1778. <p>Federal courts have taken a mixed view on whether the anti-BDS laws violate the Constitution, and the Supreme Court has yet to consider the question.</p>
1779.  
1780.  
1781.  
1782.  <div class="promote-related-post">
1783.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
1784.            href="https://theintercept.com/2021/11/29/boycott-film-bds-israel-palestine/"
1785.      data-ga-track="in_article-body"
1786.      data-ga-track-action="related post embed: boycott-film-bds-israel-palestine"
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1788.          >
1789.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Boycott_AR-Times-meeting-copy1.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
1790.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
1791.        Related      </h2>
1792.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Anti-BDS Laws Could Upend the Constitutional Right to Engage in Boycott</h3>
1793.    </span>
1794.    </a>
1795.  </div>
1796.  
1797.  
1798.  
1799. <p>Thirty-eight states had some form of anti-BDS legislation in effect as of 2023, <a href="https://legislation.palestinelegal.org/">according to Palestine Legal</a>, a group that supports the free speech rights of pro-Palestine advocates.</p>
1800.  
1801.  
1802.  
1803. <p>President Donald Trump signed an executive order <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-signs-order-against-boycotts-on-college-campuses-directed-against-israel">targeting the boycott movement</a> during his first term in 2019, which he restored in January after his reelection. Pro-Palestine <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/04/14/ice-columbia-student-mohsen-mahdawi-citizenship-interview/">activists</a> have <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/03/30/tufts-rumeysa-ozturk-ice-immigration-op-ed/">been</a> a <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/04/10/deportation-case-mahmoud-khalil-antisemitism-rubio-trump/">major</a> target of his ongoing <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/08/07/columbia-gaza-student-protests-expulsions-trump/">crackdown on universities</a> and immigrants.</p>
1804.  
1805.  
1806.  
1807. <p>Existing federal law takes aim at companies who observe Arab countries’ boycotts of Israel. Earlier this year, however, pro-Israel lawmakers sought to criminally penalize anyone who boycotted companies that the United Nations has identified as doing business in illegal Israeli <a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/07/09/west-bank-settlement-israel-real-estate/">settlements</a> in the <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/08/01/awdah-hathaleen-killed-settler-yinon-levi/">occupied West Bank</a>. The bill <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/house/3401384/house-yanks-israel-igo-anti-boycott-bill/">foundered</a> in the face of opposition from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and conservative activists.</p>
1808.  
1809.  
1810.  
1811. <p>Brian Hauss, an attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union, said the scope of the Boebert amendment is even broader. He warned that it could lead to the targeting of other social movements despised by the right, <a href="https://www.heritage.org/article/eliminate-economic-boycotts-act">as advocated by the Heritage Foundation</a>.</p>
1812.  
1813.  
1814.  
1815. <p>“It’s not just applying to boycotts called for by international organizations, it’s applying to civil society boycotts,” he said. “It is an attempt to stifle and suppress a social movement that is designed to protest the actions of the Israeli government. That is exactly what it is targeted at. It started there but it’s not going to end there — that’s exactly what makes this so dangerous.”</p>
1816.  
1817.  
1818. <!-- BLOCK(promote-post)[1](%7B%22componentName%22%3A%22PROMOTE_POST%22%2C%22entityType%22%3A%22SHORTCODE%22%2C%22optional%22%3Atrue%7D)(%7B%22slug%22%3A%22chilling-dissent%22%2C%22crop%22%3A%22promo%22%7D) -->  <aside class="promote-banner">
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1821.          <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="150" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?fit=300%2C150" class="attachment-medium size-medium" alt="" srcset="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=1536 1536w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=300 300w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=768 768w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=1024 1024w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=540 540w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=1000 1000w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />        </span>
1822.            <div class="promote-banner__text">
1823.                  <p class="promote-banner__eyebrow">
1824.            Read our complete coverage          </p>
1825.        
1826.        <h2 class="promote-banner__title">Chilling Dissent</h2>
1827.      </div>
1828.    </a>
1829.  </aside>
1830. <!-- END-BLOCK(promote-post)[1] -->
1831.  
1832.  
1833.  
1834. <p>Boebert’s provision makes clear that it is intended to punish political views.</p>
1835.  
1836.  
1837.  
1838. <p>“The Secretary of Defense may not enter into a contract with a person if such person is engaged in an activity that is politically motivated and is intended to penalize or otherwise limit significant commercial relations specifically with Israel or persons doing business in Israel or in Israeli-controlled territories,” the provision states.</p>
1839.  
1840.  
1841.  
1842. <p>That provision clearly runs afoul of the First Amendment, said Chip Gibbons, policy director of the nonprofit Defending Rights &amp; Dissent.</p>
1843.  
1844.  
1845.  
1846. <p>“There can be no question this amendment is aimed at punishing people for political points of view and political speech,” he said, “which is precisely what the First Amendment prohibits.”</p>
1847. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/11/israel-boycott-bds-boebert/">The House Just Passed a Bill Punishing “Politically Motivated” Boycotts of Israel</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
1848. ]]></content:encoded>
1849.                                <wfw:commentRss>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/11/israel-boycott-bds-boebert/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
1850.                <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
1851.                <media:content url='https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2222497571-e1757608186419.jpg?fit=6000%2C3000' width='6000' height='3000' /><post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">498763</post-id>
1852. <media:thumbnail url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2221348960_94c72c-e1757705558549.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" />
1853. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2221348960_94c72c-e1757705558549.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
1854. <media:title type="html">US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (R), flanked by US President Donald Trump, speaks at a press conference during the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in The Hague on June 25, 2025. (Photo by JOHN THYS / AFP) (Photo by JOHN THYS/AFP via Getty Images)</media:title>
1855. </media:content>
1856. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/crop-AP25246393159091-e1757703046180.webp?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
1857. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-1848351309-e1757709459132.jpeg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
1858. <media:title type="html">In this photo illustration from 2023, the logo of Proton Mail is seen displayed on a mobile phone screen with AI written in the background.</media:title>
1859. </media:content>
1860. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2234016128-e1757536506139.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
1861. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Boycott_AR-Times-meeting-copy1.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
1862. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?fit=300%2C150" medium="image" />
1863.            </item>
1864.        
1865.            <item>
1866.                <title><![CDATA[Ilhan Omar Brings War Powers to Block Trump Attacks After Venezuela Boat Strike]]></title>
1867.                <link>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/11/venezuela-boat-attack-trump-ilhan-omar/</link>
1868.                <comments>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/11/venezuela-boat-attack-trump-ilhan-omar/#respond</comments>
1869.                <pubDate>Thu, 11 Sep 2025 16:24:59 +0000</pubDate>
1870.                                    <dc:creator><![CDATA[Akela Lacy]]></dc:creator>
1871.                                 <category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
1872.  
1873.                <guid isPermaLink="false"></guid>
1874.                                    <description><![CDATA[<p>The resolution, shared exclusively with The Intercept, is the first measure to address the U.S. strike on a boat leaving Venezuela.</p>
1875. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/11/venezuela-boat-attack-trump-ilhan-omar/">Ilhan Omar Brings War Powers to Block Trump Attacks After Venezuela Boat Strike</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
1876. ]]></description>
1877.                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[
1878. <p><span class="has-underline">Rep. Ilhan Omar,</span> D-Minn, introduced a new war powers resolution on Thursday seeking to stop the Trump administration from conducting future strikes in the Caribbean after the U.S. attacked a boat leaving Venezuela last week. Text of the first congressional resolution to address the strike was shared exclusively with The Intercept. </p>
1879.  
1880.  
1881.  
1882. <p>“There was no legal justification for the Trump Administration’s military escalation in the Caribbean,&#8221; Omar said in a statement to The Intercept. &#8220;It was not self-defense or authorized by Congress. That is why I am introducing a resolution to terminate hostilities against Venezuela, and against the transnational criminal organizations that the Administration has designated as terrorists this year. All of us should agree that the separation of powers is crucial to our democracy, and that only Congress has the power to declare war.&#8221;</p>
1883.  
1884.  
1885.  
1886.  
1887.  
1888.  
1889.  
1890. <p>Congress has the “sole power to declare war” as outlined in the Constitution, though U.S. presidents often bypass this authority when carrying out international attacks. Omar, deputy chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, unveiled the resolution with the backing of CPC leaders, including caucus Chair Greg Casar, D-Texas, and caucus whip Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García, D-Ill. </p>
1891.  
1892.  
1893.  
1894. <p>Casar said Trump’s strike was illegal. </p>
1895.  
1896.  
1897.  
1898. <p>&#8220;Donald Trump cannot be allowed to drag the United States into another endless war with his reckless actions,” Casar said. “It is illegal for the president to take the country to war without consulting the people&#8217;s representatives, and Congress must vote now to stop Trump from putting us at further risk.&#8221;</p>
1899.  
1900.  
1901.  
1902.  <div class="promote-related-post">
1903.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
1904.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/10/trump-venezuela-boat-attack-drone/"
1905.      data-ga-track="in_article-body"
1906.      data-ga-track-action="related post embed: trump-venezuela-boat-attack-drone"
1907.      data-ga-track-label="trump-venezuela-boat-attack-drone"
1908.          >
1909.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-10-at-3.40.44-PM-e1757533798317.png?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
1910.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
1911.        Related      </h2>
1912.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Rand Paul Reveals Venezuela Boat Attack Was a Drone Strike</h3>
1913.    </span>
1914.    </a>
1915.  </div>
1916.  
1917.  
1918.  
1919. <p>The Intercept first reported on Wednesday that <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/10/u-s-attacked-boat-near-venezuela-multiple-times-to-kill-survivors/">U.S. forces struck the boat multiple times</a> in order to kill survivors, according to two U.S. officials granted anonymity to discuss the attacks.</p>
1920.  
1921.  
1922.  
1923. <p>News of the strike on the boat, which President Donald Trump <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/02/trump-military-venezuela-drug-boat/">claimed</a> was carrying drugs from Venezuela, has divided some Republicans. Sen. Rand Paul revealed to The Intercept on Wednesday that the attack was a<a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/10/trump-venezuela-boat-attack-drone/"> drone strike</a>. A current Pentagon official denounced the strike as an<a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/05/pentagon-official-trump-boat-strike-was-a-criminal-attack-on-civilians/"> attack on civilians</a> that violated international law.</p>
1924.  
1925.  
1926.  
1927. <p>While the president is commander in chief of the U.S. military,<strong> t</strong>he Constitution gives Congress the authority to declare war and authorize funding. The first war powers resolution of 1973 required the president to notify Congress within 48 hours of deploying U.S. forces abroad. Although Congress has not<a href="https://www.senate.gov/about/powers-procedures/declarations-of-war.htm"> officially declared war</a> since World War II, U.S. presidents have long found ways to<a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/01/12/795661019/how-presidents-wage-war-without-congress"> authorize military action around the globe</a> without Congress’s explicit permission. </p>
1928.  
1929.  
1930.  
1931.  
1932.  
1933.  
1934.  
1935. <p>The new resolution states that Congress has not declared war or enacted an authorization for use of military force against Venezuela or any transnational criminal organizations designated as terrorists since February. The measure also directs Trump to end the use of U.S. armed forces against Venezuela or any transnational criminal groups designated as terrorists without authorization by Congress.&nbsp;</p>
1936.  
1937.  
1938.  
1939. <p>Members of Congress in both parties have expressed concerns about Trump’s overreach in the use of military force. House Republicans are planning to advance a measure to<a href="https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/09/09/congress/congress-war-powers-00552940"> repeal the president’s power to authorize military</a> operations in the Middle East, as Politico and other outlets reported Tuesday. In June, after Trump <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/06/17/iran-war-powers-resolution-congress-israel-trump-massie-khanna/">ordered bombings in Iran</a>, Democrats tried to advance a new<a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/06/25/democrats-war-powers-resolutions-trump-israel-iran/"> war powers resolution</a> which did not succeed in blocking the president’s actions. Trump has also proposed to “take over” Gaza, which the United Nations has said would<a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/02/us-proposal-take-over-gaza-would-shatter-fundamental-rules-international"> violate international law</a>.&nbsp;</p>
1940.  
1941.  
1942.  
1943. <p>García, the CPC whip, said the strike further exacerbated problems in a part of the world deeply damaged by <a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/05/09/venezuela-coup-regime-change/">U.S. interventions</a> throughout history.</p>
1944.  
1945.  
1946.  
1947. <p>“The extrajudicial strike against a vessel in the Caribbean Sea is only the most recent of Trump’s reckless, deadly, and illegal military actions. Now, he’s lawlessly threatening a region already profoundly impacted by the destabilization of U.S. actions,” said García. “With this War Powers Resolution, we emphasize the total illegality of his action, and — consistent with overwhelming public opposition to forever war — reclaim Congress’ sole power to authorize military action.”</p>
1948. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/11/venezuela-boat-attack-trump-ilhan-omar/">Ilhan Omar Brings War Powers to Block Trump Attacks After Venezuela Boat Strike</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
1949. ]]></content:encoded>
1950.                                <wfw:commentRss>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/11/venezuela-boat-attack-trump-ilhan-omar/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
1951.                <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
1952.                <media:content url='https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/AP25196773322237-e1757605789911.jpg?fit=6650%2C3325' width='6650' height='3325' /><post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">498758</post-id>
1953. <media:thumbnail url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2221348960_94c72c-e1757705558549.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" />
1954. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2221348960_94c72c-e1757705558549.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
1955. <media:title type="html">US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (R), flanked by US President Donald Trump, speaks at a press conference during the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in The Hague on June 25, 2025. (Photo by JOHN THYS / AFP) (Photo by JOHN THYS/AFP via Getty Images)</media:title>
1956. </media:content>
1957. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2222497571-e1757608186419.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
1958. <media:title type="html">WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 2: Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) walks into the office of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) at the U.S. Capitol Building on July 2, 2025 in Washington, DC. House Republicans began work on final passage of the &#34;One, Big, Beautiful Bill&#34; Act yesterday, less than two hours after the Senate passed its version of President Donald Trump&#039;s signature domestic agenda legislation. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)</media:title>
1959. </media:content>
1960. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/crop-AP25246393159091-e1757703046180.webp?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
1961. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-10-at-3.40.44-PM-e1757533798317.png?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
1962.            </item>
1963.        
1964.            <item>
1965.                <title><![CDATA[These 59 Companies Fought the Anti-Trans Bathroom Bill in 2016. In 2025, They're Silent.]]></title>
1966.                <link>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/11/transgender-bathroom-bill-texas-north-carolina/</link>
1967.                <comments>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/11/transgender-bathroom-bill-texas-north-carolina/#respond</comments>
1968.                <pubDate>Thu, 11 Sep 2025 10:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
1969.                                    <dc:creator><![CDATA[Jessica Washington]]></dc:creator>
1970.                                 <category><![CDATA[Justice]]></category>
1971. <category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
1972.  
1973.                <guid isPermaLink="false"></guid>
1974.                                    <description><![CDATA[<p>Companies like TD Bank, American Airlines, and Nike fought North Carolina’s discrimination against transgender people. They aren't doing the same in Texas.</p>
1975. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/11/transgender-bathroom-bill-texas-north-carolina/">These 59 Companies Fought the Anti-Trans Bathroom Bill in 2016. In 2025, They&#8217;re Silent.</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
1976. ]]></description>
1977.                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[
1978. <p><span class="has-underline">In the weeks</span> after North Carolina’s Republican-led state legislature passed its infamous 2016 “bathroom bill” — banning transgender people from using the bathroom aligned with their gender — major companies and their CEOs tripped over themselves to denounce it.&nbsp;</p>
1979.  
1980.  
1981.  
1982. <p>PayPal <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/apr/05/paypal-cancels-north-carolina-center-charlotte-law-lgbt-discrimination">canceled its planned expansion</a> into North Carolina. The NCAA<a href="https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/17533335/ncaa-pulls-7-championship-events-north-carolina"> pulled its seven tournaments</a> from the state. And <a href="https://www.hrc.org/press-releases/68-companies-sign-hrcs-amicus-brief-supporting-doj-effort-to-block-ncs-disc">68 companies</a>, including Apple, Yelp, American Airlines, and Nike, signed an amicus brief with the Obama-era Department of Justice denouncing the law.</p>
1983.  
1984.  
1985.  
1986. <p>Late last month, the Texas Legislature <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/28/texas-house-bathroom-bill-transgender/">passed its own, inarguably harsher, version</a> of the “bathroom bill.” But in the first year of a second Trump administration <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/05/07/supreme-court-trans-military-service-members-ban/">hellbent</a> on <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/01/23/marco-rubio-state-department-passports-gender-trans-nonbinary/">targeting</a> the <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/01/22/trump-anti-trans-gender-executive-order/">trans community</a>, those corporate crusaders have been notably quieter.&nbsp;</p>
1987.  
1988.  
1989.  
1990. <p>The Intercept reached out to 59 of the companies whose names appeared on the amicus brief in 2016 — the other nine had gone out of business, been acquired by larger corporations, or spun off into separate subsidiaries — to get their thoughts on the Texas bill. </p>
1991.  
1992.  
1993.  
1994. <p>Their response: crickets.</p>
1995.  
1996.  
1997.  
1998. <p>Except for Affirm and TD Bank, which both declined to comment, none of the corporations responded to our inquiry or issued prominent public statements against the bill.</p>
1999.  
2000.  
2001.  
2002. <p>“The rise and fall of corporate support for things like LGBTQ rights and representation shows how weak corporations’ support for LGBTQ rights is,” said Joanna Wuest, an assistant professor of women’s, gender, and sexuality studies at Stony Brook University.</p>
2003.  
2004.  
2005.  
2006.  
2007.  
2008.  
2009.  
2010. <p>Wuest, who has been researching corporate support for LGBTQ+ rights since 2020, said that she used to find the decline surprising. But by now, she finds the lack of support from the 59 companies standard.</p>
2011.  
2012.  
2013.  
2014. <p>Those companies are Accenture, Affirm, Airbnb, American Airlines, Apple, Biogen, Bloomberg LP, Boehinger Ingleheim USA, Box, Capital One Financial Corporation, Cisco Systems, Consumer Technology Association, Corning Incorporated, Cummins, Dropbox, Dupont, eBay, Etsy, Everlaw, Expedia, FiftyThree, Gap, General Electric Company, Glassdoor, Grokker, Hilton Worldwide, Honor, IBM Corporation, IKEA North American Services, Instacart, Intel Corporation, John Hancock, Levi Strauss &amp; Co., LinkedIn Corporation, Logitech, Marriott International, Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, Microsoft, Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, Morgan Stanley, Nextdoor, Nike, PayPal, Quotient, RBC Capital Markets, Red Hat, Replacements Ltd., Salesforce, Slack, SV Angel, TD Bank NA, The Dow Chemical Company, Thermo Fisher Scientific, ThirdLove, Tumblr, United Airlines, Williams-Sonoma, Yelp, ZestFinance, and Zynga.</p>
2015.  
2016.  
2017.  
2018. <p>The Intercept first reached out to 56 of the 59 companies between August 29 and September 2. ZestFinance and RBC Capital Markets were contacted on September 8, and Box was contacted on September 9. Most were reachable via email, but three companies, Accenture, Slack, and Yelp, had to be contacted via web form. The Intercept followed up with all of the companies that did not provide comment.</p>
2019.  
2020.  
2021.  
2022. <p>The Intercept was unable to reach SV Angel and Quotient. Slack was acquired by Salesforce but was contacted separately by The Intercept.</p>
2023.  
2024.  
2025.  
2026.  <div class="promote-related-post">
2027.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
2028.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/06/05/corporate-pride-month-lgbtq-trump/"
2029.      data-ga-track="in_article-body"
2030.      data-ga-track-action="related post embed: corporate-pride-month-lgbtq-trump"
2031.      data-ga-track-label="corporate-pride-month-lgbtq-trump"
2032.          >
2033.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/AP24183661454994-e1749070411333.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
2034.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
2035.        Related      </h2>
2036.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Corporate Pride Is Dying. Good.</h3>
2037.    </span>
2038.    </a>
2039.  </div>
2040.  
2041.  
2042.  
2043. <p>In the past year, corporate support for transgender and LGBTQ+ rights has dropped precipitously. A <a href="https://www.gravityresearch.com/posts/corporate-approaches-to-pride-2025/">survey of more than 200 corporations</a> by Gravity Research, a risk-management advisory firm, found that roughly 39 percent of companies planned to reduce Pride Month-related engagement in the first months of the second Trump administration.</p>
2044.  
2045.  
2046.  
2047. <p>Major corporations, including Budweiser brewer Anheuser-Busch, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/pride-parades-companies-dropping-out-1f41c6bc5f61dc96fbfb34ca66fb18b3">ended their support of Pride festivals across the country</a> this year. And several companies have ended their participation in the Human Rights Campaign&#8217;s Corporate Equality Index, which rates companies based on their treatment of LGBTQ+ employees.&nbsp;</p>
2048.  
2049.  
2050.  
2051. <p>“One simple way of putting it is that many of these corporations just don’t see the added benefit to putting themselves on the line anymore,” said Wuest.</p>
2052.  
2053.  
2054.  
2055. <p>An obvious part of the equation is President Donald Trump.&nbsp;</p>
2056.  
2057.  
2058.  
2059. <p>“This current administration has made it a mission to impose harsh consequences on those who support and protect transgender people&#8217;s rights to exist freely and thrive,” said Heron Greenesmith, the deputy director of policy at the Transgender Law Center, in a statement.&nbsp;</p>
2060.  
2061.  
2062.  
2063. <p>More broadly, the administration has targeted companies and nonprofits showing any support for marginalized communities.&nbsp;</p>
2064.  
2065.  
2066.  
2067. <p>Jared Todd, a press secretary for the Human Rights Commission, which authored the 2016 amicus brief, told The Intercept in a statement that “the Trump Administration’s baseless crusade against diversity and inclusion has led to businesses operating in fear and uncertainty, trying to piece together the constantly moving threats from countless executive orders and DOJ guidance.”</p>
2068.  
2069.  
2070.  
2071. <p>In the past, Wuest said, companies tried to curry favor with more progressive consumers and employees —&nbsp;and viewed support for trans rights as beneficial to their brands. But the right’s <a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/04/26/disney-ron-desantis-first-amendment-free-speech/">relentless targeting </a>of companies that have shown a modicum of support for the LGBTQ+ community have flipped their perceived incentives.</p>
2072.  
2073.  
2074.  
2075. <p>“They’re making considerations based on conservative boycotts,” she said, pointing to protests against Target and Budweiser as examples. “That makes even advertising appeals to the queer communities to be fraught.”</p>
2076.  
2077.  
2078.  
2079.  
2080.  
2081.  
2082.  
2083. <p><span class="has-underline">Past corporate activism</span> on behalf of transgender rights was arguably performative — but it was at times<strong> </strong>incredibly consequential.&nbsp;</p>
2084.  
2085.  
2086.  
2087. <p>North Carolina was forced to repeal its 2016 law or <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/27/bathroom-bill-to-cost-north-carolina-376-billion.html">lose out on billions in revenue from the corporate backlash</a>. In South Dakota, then-Gov. Kristi Noem — now the <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/05/20/kristi-noem-coast-guard-50-million-gulfstream-luxury-jet/">secretary of Homeland Security </a>— vetoed a bill banning trans girls and women from playing sports with their gender after facing significant backlash from the state&#8217;s chamber of commerce in 2021.</p>
2088.  
2089.  
2090.  
2091. <p>“[Corporate activism] can have huge effects, but at the same time, it’s ultimately downstream from a lot of bottom-line interests, and so when those things disappear, the corporations aren&#8217;t going to put their necks out,” said Wuest.</p>
2092.  
2093.  
2094.  
2095. <p>Today, 19 states have some iteration of the transgender bathroom ban first modeled in North Carolina.&nbsp;</p>
2096.  
2097.  
2098.  
2099.  <div class="promote-related-post">
2100.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
2101.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/05/22/big-beautiful-bill-trans-medicaid-healthcare-minors-adults/"
2102.      data-ga-track="in_article-body"
2103.      data-ga-track-action="related post embed: big-beautiful-bill-trans-medicaid-healthcare-minors-adults"
2104.      data-ga-track-label="big-beautiful-bill-trans-medicaid-healthcare-minors-adults"
2105.          >
2106.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/AP25142435561941.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
2107.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
2108.        Related      </h2>
2109.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Republicans Launch Midnight Attack on Health Care Access for Trans Americans</h3>
2110.    </span>
2111.    </a>
2112.  </div>
2113.  
2114.  
2115.  
2116. <p>In the case of Texas, the consequences for both transgender and cisgender Texans are dire. The bill, which passed after roughly 16 attempts from conservative legislators over the last decade, would ban trans people from using public bathrooms, locker rooms, and even prisons and jails that align with their gender. Unlike the North Carolina version, the Texas bill would also impose significant penalties for government agencies and public institutions that allow trans people to use facilities that match their gender.&nbsp;</p>
2117.  
2118.  
2119.  
2120. <p>The fine is $25,000 for first-time offenders and $125,000 for the second time — the most significant penalty of any of the states with similar bans.</p>
2121.  
2122.  
2123.  
2124. <p>“The implications for trans, intersex, and nonbinary people in Texas are staggering: this bill deputizes a legion of potty-police who are incentivized to tattle on anyone whom they suspect is trans or nonbinary using the bathroom,” wrote Greenesmith of the Transgender Law Center. “Gender nonconforming people of every gender — cis, trans, and nonbinary alike — will face the ramifications of this bill.”</p>
2125. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/11/transgender-bathroom-bill-texas-north-carolina/">These 59 Companies Fought the Anti-Trans Bathroom Bill in 2016. In 2025, They&#8217;re Silent.</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
2126. ]]></content:encoded>
2127.                                <wfw:commentRss>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/11/transgender-bathroom-bill-texas-north-carolina/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
2128.                <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
2129.                <media:content url='https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Texas-bathroom-bill-companies-statement.jpg?fit=2000%2C1000' width='2000' height='1000' /><post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">498584</post-id>
2130. <media:thumbnail url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2221348960_94c72c-e1757705558549.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" />
2131. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2221348960_94c72c-e1757705558549.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
2132. <media:title type="html">US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (R), flanked by US President Donald Trump, speaks at a press conference during the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in The Hague on June 25, 2025. (Photo by JOHN THYS / AFP) (Photo by JOHN THYS/AFP via Getty Images)</media:title>
2133. </media:content>
2134. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2222497571-e1757608186419.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
2135. <media:title type="html">WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 2: Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) walks into the office of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) at the U.S. Capitol Building on July 2, 2025 in Washington, DC. House Republicans began work on final passage of the &#34;One, Big, Beautiful Bill&#34; Act yesterday, less than two hours after the Senate passed its version of President Donald Trump&#039;s signature domestic agenda legislation. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)</media:title>
2136. </media:content>
2137. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/crop-AP25246393159091-e1757703046180.webp?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
2138. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/AP24183661454994-e1749070411333.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
2139. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/AP25142435561941.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
2140.            </item>
2141.        
2142.            <item>
2143.                <title><![CDATA[Nothing Will Stop Trump From Weaponizing Charlie Kirk’s Killing to Attack the Left]]></title>
2144.                <link>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/11/charlie-kirk-killing-trump-left-political-violence/</link>
2145.                <comments>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/11/charlie-kirk-killing-trump-left-political-violence/#respond</comments>
2146.                <pubDate>Thu, 11 Sep 2025 06:03:00 +0000</pubDate>
2147.                                    <dc:creator><![CDATA[Natasha Lennard]]></dc:creator>
2148.                                 <category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
2149. <category><![CDATA[Voices]]></category>
2150.  
2151.                <guid isPermaLink="false"></guid>
2152.                                    <description><![CDATA[<p>Charlie Kirk’s killer has not been identified. That didn’t stop Trump or his acolytes from blaming the “radical left.”</p>
2153. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/11/charlie-kirk-killing-trump-left-political-violence/">Nothing Will Stop Trump From Weaponizing Charlie Kirk’s Killing to Attack the Left</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
2154. ]]></description>
2155.                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[
2156. <figure class="wp-block-ft-photo is-style-default">
2157.    <img decoding="async"
2158.    src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/AP25253709591634.jpg?fit=3000%2C2000"
2159.    srcset="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/AP25253709591634.jpg?w=3000 3000w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/AP25253709591634.jpg?w=300 300w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/AP25253709591634.jpg?w=768 768w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/AP25253709591634.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/AP25253709591634.jpg?w=1536 1536w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/AP25253709591634.jpg?w=2048 2048w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/AP25253709591634.jpg?w=540 540w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/AP25253709591634.jpg?w=1000 1000w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/AP25253709591634.jpg?w=2400 2400w"
2160.    sizes="auto, (min-width: 1300px) 650px, (min-width: 800px) 64vw, (min-width: 500px) calc(100vw - 5rem), calc(100vw - 3rem)"
2161.    alt="Law enforcement tapes off an area after Charlie Kirk, the CEO and co-founder of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, was shot at Utah Valley University, Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025, in Orem, Utah."
2162.    width="3000"
2163.    height="2000"
2164.    loading="lazy"
2165.  />
2166.      <figcaption class="photo__figcaption">
2167.      <span class="photo__caption">A law enforcement official tapes off an area after Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was shot at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, 2025, in Orem, Utah. </span>&nbsp;<span class="photo__credit">Photo: Tess Crowley/The Deseret News via AP</span>    </figcaption>
2168.    </figure>
2169.  
2170.  
2171.  
2172. <p><span class="has-underline">This is not</span> a moment for dishonesty. Contrary to the hurried efforts of some Democratic leaders to eulogize Charlie Kirk, we don’t need to pretend the far-right activist engaged in earnest politics “across ideology, through spirited debate” as <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/03/07/gavin-newsom-trans-democrats/">California Gov. Gavin Newsom</a> said in a <a href="https://x.com/CAgovernor/status/1965899170579202144">post</a> on X paying tribute to Kirk. </p>
2173.  
2174.  
2175.  
2176. <p>Kirk, the founder of the far-right movement Turning Points USA, was committed to organizing America’s white young men, from college campus to college campus and beyond, into a politics of revanchist, <a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/07/18/nick-fuentes-america-first-conference/">resentment-fueled, patriarchal white nationalism.</a> </p>
2177.  
2178.  
2179.  
2180. <p>However harmful Kirk’s project has been to our collective flourishing, though, the response to his assassination could put this nation, and especially those on the left, in a position of greater peril than at any previous moment of Donald Trump’s authoritarian second term.</p>
2181.  
2182.  
2183.  
2184. <!-- BLOCK(pullquote)[0](%7B%22componentName%22%3A%22PULLQUOTE%22%2C%22entityType%22%3A%22SHORTCODE%22%2C%22optional%22%3Atrue%7D)(%7B%22pull%22%3A%22right%22%7D) --><blockquote class="stylized pull-right" data-shortcode-type="pullquote" data-pull="right"><!-- CONTENT(pullquote)[0] -->The call couldn’t be clearer: Open season on the left.<!-- END-CONTENT(pullquote)[0] --></blockquote><!-- END-BLOCK(pullquote)[0] -->
2185.  
2186.  
2187.  
2188. <p>At the time of writing, the person responsible for shooting Kirk has not been apprehended or identified. That didn’t stop Trump from delivering an official address unequivocally blaming the “radical left” for Kirk’s death in the broadest terms possible.</p>
2189.  
2190.  
2191.  
2192. <p>The Trump administration is a weaponization machine; it will transform all manner of things into an ideological arsenal to use against its opposition. Anti-genocide activism is <a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/03/28/safety-college-columbia-stanford-antisemitism-israel-palestine/">antisemitism</a>; <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/07/01/masked-ice-agents-victimization-accountability">immigrant workers</a> are “the worst” criminals; addressing white supremacy is <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/02/22/trump-dei-christians-woke-civil-rights/">discrimination</a>; war crimes are <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/09/07/trump-tariffs-ukraine-war/">peace</a> — all of these fascistic transmutations have become grimly common in the last eight months. </p>
2193.  
2194.  
2195.  
2196. <p>Trump’s erratic government is predictable only insofar as it can reliably and quickly metabolize events toward <a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/09/23/trump-campaign-conspiracy-theories/">authoritarian ends</a>. </p>
2197.  
2198.  
2199.  
2200.  
2201.  
2202.  
2203.  
2204. <p>In his televised <a href="https://time.com/7316299/charlie-kirk-shot-death-donald-trump-speech-transcript-political-violence/?utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=editorial&amp;utm_content=110925">remarks</a>, Trump made immediately clear how his administration plans to instrumentalize this assassination too, regardless of the specifics of the shooting. Trump called Kirk a “martyr” and blamed the “radical left” for comparing “wonderful Americans” like Kirk — who was an unabashed Christian nationalist — to Nazis.</p>
2205.  
2206.  
2207.  
2208. <p>“This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today,” the president said. Without any public information about the shooter, Trump took the opportunity to assert that his administration would hunt down any person or organization associated with the — again, unknown — suspect. </p>
2209.  
2210.  
2211.  
2212. <p>The call couldn’t be clearer: Open season on the left.</p>
2213.  
2214.  
2215.  
2216. <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-demonizing-whom">“Demonizing” Whom?</h2>
2217.  
2218.  
2219.  
2220. <p>In his speech, the president described a scourge of left-wing political violence based on “demonizing those with whom you disagree.”&nbsp;</p>
2221.  
2222.  
2223.  
2224. <p>When he was shot, Kirk was speaking on a Utah college campus, demonizing those with whom he disagreed. In response to an audience member <a href="https://www.al.com/news/2025/09/what-charlie-kirk-was-saying-moments-before-he-was-shot.html">asking</a>, “Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?” Kirk responded “too many,” promoting a baseless and vile <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/05/trans-gun-ban-trump-doj/">conspiracy theory</a> spread by Trump attempting to link trans people with violent crimes.&nbsp;</p>
2225.  
2226.  
2227.  
2228. <p>Trump then sought to paint a picture of prolific left-wing violence by listing the assassination attempt he himself survived last year; “attacks on ICE agents,” which have been egregiously overblown; the killing of <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/04/14/luigi-mangione-federal-death-penalty-trump/">UnitedHealthcare CEO</a> Brian Thompson; and the shooting at a baseball game that injured Louisiana Republican <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/01/02/steve-scalise-bourbon-street-new-orleans-attack/">Rep. Steve Scalise</a>. </p>
2229.  
2230.  
2231.  
2232. <figure class="wp-block-ft-photo is-style-default">
2233.    <img decoding="async"
2234.    src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-10-at-11.40.32-PM.png?fit=2878%2C1528"
2235.    srcset="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-10-at-11.40.32-PM.png?w=2878 2878w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-10-at-11.40.32-PM.png?w=300 300w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-10-at-11.40.32-PM.png?w=768 768w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-10-at-11.40.32-PM.png?w=1024 1024w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-10-at-11.40.32-PM.png?w=1536 1536w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-10-at-11.40.32-PM.png?w=2048 2048w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-10-at-11.40.32-PM.png?w=540 540w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-10-at-11.40.32-PM.png?w=1000 1000w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-10-at-11.40.32-PM.png?w=2400 2400w"
2236.    sizes="auto, (min-width: 1300px) 650px, (min-width: 800px) 64vw, (min-width: 500px) calc(100vw - 5rem), calc(100vw - 3rem)"
2237.    alt=""
2238.    width="2878"
2239.    height="1528"
2240.    loading="lazy"
2241.  />
2242.      <figcaption class="photo__figcaption">
2243.      <span class="photo__caption">President Donald Trump makes a televised address from the White House after the shooting of Turning Points USA founder Charlie Kirk on Sept. 10, 2025, in Washington.</span>&nbsp;<span class="photo__credit">Screenshot: The Intercept</span>    </figcaption>
2244.    </figure>
2245.  
2246.  
2247.  
2248. <p>The president notably did not mention the assassination attempts on <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/06/16/nx-s1-5433748/minnesota-shooting-suspect-vance-boelter-arrested-melissa-hortman-john-hoffman">multiple</a> Democratic members of the Minnesota Legislature last June, in which state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband were killed. Nor did Trump invoke the time a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/09/paul-pelosi-attack-trial-conspiracy-theory-san-francisco">far-right conspiracy theorist</a> broke into former House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s home in an attempted kidnapping and bashed in her husband’s skull.</p>
2249.  
2250.  
2251.  
2252. <p>Needless to say, the president said nothing of the fact that the <a href="https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/what-nij-research-tells-us-about-domestic-terrorism">majority</a> <a href="https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/what-nij-research-tells-us-about-domestic-terrorism">of politically motivated attacks</a> are carried out by <a href="https://theintercept.com/series/the-threat-within/">far-right extremists</a>. The omissions were as glaring as they were unsurprising.</p>
2253.  
2254.  
2255.  
2256. <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-calls-for-repression">Calls for Repression</h2>
2257.  
2258.  
2259.  
2260. <p>Meanwhile, Trump’s key propagandists and loyalists spoke in swift unison to weaponize the shooting for repressive purposes.&nbsp;</p>
2261.  
2262.  
2263.  
2264. <p>Far-right activist and Trump adviser Laura Loomer <a href="https://x.com/LauraLoomer/status/1965893424042606861">posted</a> that the government should “shut down, defund, &amp; prosecute every single Leftist organization.” She added, “No mercy. Jail every single Leftist who makes a threat of political violence.”</p>
2265.  
2266.  
2267.  
2268. <p>“They are at war with us,” <a href="https://x.com/NikkiMcR/status/1965886040130146642">said</a> Fox News host Jesse Watters. “What are we going to do about it?” </p>
2269.  
2270.  
2271.  
2272. <p>“The last time the radical Left orchestrated a wave of violence and terror, J. Edgar Hoover shut it all down within a few years,” <a href="https://x.com/realchrisrufo/status/1965866248341987579">wrote</a> the Manhattan Institute’s Christopher Rufo on X. Rufo, a <a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/06/08/christopher-rufo-nonprofit-dark-money/">major force </a>in the Trump administration’s ongoing assault on higher education, added, “It is time, within the confines of the law, to infiltrate, disrupt, arrest, and incarcerate all of those who are responsible for this chaos.” </p>
2273.  
2274.  
2275.  
2276.  
2277.  
2278.  
2279.  
2280. <p>With major Republican figures explicitly calling to revive McCarthyite and COINTELPRO-style repression of the political left — a category that, in the deranged worldview of the Trumpian right could include everyone from far-left mutual aid groups to <a href="https://x.com/Cernovich/status/1965853742169047115">Bill Gates</a> — now is no time for lie-filled paeans to Kirk from political leaders. It is a moment that demands a commitment to protecting constituents from the sort of hateful ideologies Kirk supported — and the kinds of crackdowns Trump and his acolytes are demanding. </p>
2281.  
2282.  
2283.  
2284. <p>Progressives including Sen. <a href="https://x.com/BernieSanders/status/1965867418863235410">Bernie Sanders</a>, I-Vt., and Rep. <a href="https://x.com/AOC/status/1965876680553279580">Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez</a>, D-N.Y., wrote social media posts to say that there is “no place” for political violence in this country.</p>
2285.  
2286.  
2287.  
2288.  <div class="promote-related-post">
2289.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
2290.            href="https://theintercept.com/2024/07/14/trump-shooting-political-violence/"
2291.      data-ga-track="in_article-body"
2292.      data-ga-track-action="related post embed: trump-shooting-political-violence"
2293.      data-ga-track-label="trump-shooting-political-violence"
2294.          >
2295.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/AP24195845738001-e1720967098821.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
2296.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
2297.        Related      </h2>
2298.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">The Only Kind of “Political Violence” All U.S. Politicians Oppose</h3>
2299.    </span>
2300.    </a>
2301.  </div>
2302.  
2303.  
2304.  
2305. <p>Political violence has always been at home in a nation built on Indigenous slaughter, slavery, dispossession, and exploitation, to say nothing of <a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/11/09/criminal-justice-mass-incarceration-book/">rates of incarceration </a>and <a href="https://theintercept.com/2022/05/25/texas-uvalde-shooting-school-police/">shootings</a> seen nowhere else on the planet. The progressives’ statements are all the more misplaced at this time of authoritarian escalation at home and U.S.-backed genocide abroad. </p>
2306.  
2307.  
2308.  
2309. <p>It is precisely because of the central place of political violence in this country that this moment feels both predictably and uniquely dangerous. On Wednesday night, Trump called it a “dark moment for America” — but for all the wrong reasons.&nbsp;</p>
2310.  
2311.  
2312.  
2313. <p>This is no time for whitewashing the memory of a man who did more than perhaps anyone in his generation to recruit young people into the inherently violent cause of white nationalism. The urgent work at hand is to<a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/11/06/trump-harris-election-results-action/"> take care of each other</a>, and to protect the most vulnerable among us, from a world that would be built in Charlie Kirk’s name.</p>
2314. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/11/charlie-kirk-killing-trump-left-political-violence/">Nothing Will Stop Trump From Weaponizing Charlie Kirk’s Killing to Attack the Left</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
2315. ]]></content:encoded>
2316.                                <wfw:commentRss>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/11/charlie-kirk-killing-trump-left-political-violence/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
2317.                <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
2318.                <media:content url='https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/signal-2025-09-10-235157-e1757569992454.jpeg?fit=2048%2C1024' width='2048' height='1024' /><post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">498731</post-id>
2319. <media:thumbnail url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/AP25253709591634.jpg?fit=3000%2C2000" />
2320. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/AP25253709591634.jpg?fit=3000%2C2000" medium="image">
2321. <media:title type="html">Law enforcement tapes off an area after Charlie Kirk, the CEO and co-founder of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, was shot at Utah Valley University, Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025, in Orem, Utah.</media:title>
2322. </media:content>
2323. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2221348960_94c72c-e1757705558549.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
2324. <media:title type="html">US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (R), flanked by US President Donald Trump, speaks at a press conference during the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in The Hague on June 25, 2025. (Photo by JOHN THYS / AFP) (Photo by JOHN THYS/AFP via Getty Images)</media:title>
2325. </media:content>
2326. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2222497571-e1757608186419.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
2327. <media:title type="html">WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 2: Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) walks into the office of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) at the U.S. Capitol Building on July 2, 2025 in Washington, DC. House Republicans began work on final passage of the &#34;One, Big, Beautiful Bill&#34; Act yesterday, less than two hours after the Senate passed its version of President Donald Trump&#039;s signature domestic agenda legislation. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)</media:title>
2328. </media:content>
2329. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/crop-AP25246393159091-e1757703046180.webp?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
2330. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-10-at-11.40.32-PM.png?fit=2878%2C1528" medium="image" />
2331. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/AP24195845738001-e1720967098821.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
2332.            </item>
2333.        
2334.            <item>
2335.                <title><![CDATA[U.S. Attacked Boat Near Venezuela Multiple Times to Kill Survivors]]></title>
2336.                <link>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/10/u-s-attacked-boat-near-venezuela-multiple-times-to-kill-survivors/</link>
2337.                <comments>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/10/u-s-attacked-boat-near-venezuela-multiple-times-to-kill-survivors/#respond</comments>
2338.                <pubDate>Wed, 10 Sep 2025 23:58:46 +0000</pubDate>
2339.                                    <dc:creator><![CDATA[Nick Turse]]></dc:creator>
2340.                                 <category><![CDATA[National Security]]></category>
2341. <category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
2342.  
2343.                <guid isPermaLink="false"></guid>
2344.                                    <description><![CDATA[<p>American officials said the repeat drone strikes were carried out by Special Operations Command, and more attacks could come soon.</p>
2345. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/10/u-s-attacked-boat-near-venezuela-multiple-times-to-kill-survivors/">U.S. Attacked Boat Near Venezuela Multiple Times to Kill Survivors</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
2346. ]]></description>
2347.                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[
2348. <p><span class="has-underline">People on board</span> the boat off the coast of Venezuela that the U.S. military destroyed last Tuesday were said to have survived an initial strike, according to two American officials familiar with the matter. They were then killed shortly after in a follow-up attack.</p>
2349.  
2350.  
2351.  
2352. <p>The boat was under U.S. surveillance for a significant period of time. Those on board apparently spotted the U.S. aerial assets and altered the vessel’s course. U.S. officials said the boat appeared to have turned back toward shore, after which it was subjected to multiple strikes. Three sources, including Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said the boat was <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/10/trump-venezuela-boat-attack-drone/">attacked by one or more drones</a>.</p>
2353.  
2354.  
2355.  
2356. <p>A very small number of Senate and House staffers separately received highly classified briefings about the attack on Tuesday.&nbsp;No senators or House members were in attendance, people familiar with the briefings told The Intercept.</p>
2357.  
2358.  
2359.  
2360. <p>Two officials familiar with the strike were left with the impression that more attacks in the Caribbean would be forthcoming in the weeks ahead.</p>
2361.  
2362.  
2363.  
2364.  
2365.  
2366.  
2367.  
2368. <p>Multiple sources say that Special Operations Command, or SOCOM, conducted the lethal operation. This is considered highly unusual given all the other military assets based in the region.</p>
2369.  
2370.  
2371.  
2372. <p>Col. Allie Weiskopf, SOCOM’s director of public affairs, would not comment on the command’s involvement in the attack. “We don’t have anything for you,” she told The Intercept.</p>
2373.  
2374.  
2375.  
2376. <p>In response to questions from The Intercept, chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell sent this statement: “Narco-terrorists who poison the American people will find no safe harbor in international waters or anywhere in our hemisphere. This strike sent a clear message: if you traffic drugs toward our shores, the United States military will use every tool at our disposal to stop you cold.”</p>
2377.  
2378.  
2379.  
2380. <p><span class="has-underline">President Donald Trump</span> said he authorized the attack and <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115136798909755892" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">posted an edited video</a> to social media last week showing a four-engine speedboat cutting through the water with numerous people on board. An explosion then destroys the boat. Trump said the strike killed 11 people whom he characterized as “narcoterrorists.” The administration has offered no evidence to support these assertions.</p>
2381.  
2382.  
2383.  
2384. <p>Secretary of State Marco Rubio also made clear that the U.S. could have halted the ship and arrested the crew but chose to kill them instead. “Instead of interdicting it, on the president’s orders, we blew it up — and it’ll happen again,” <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/05/politics/trump-weighs-strikes-targeting-cartels-inside-venezuela">he boasted</a>.</p>
2385.  
2386.  
2387.  
2388.  
2389.  
2390.  
2391.  
2392. <p>Brian Finucane, a former State Department lawyer who is an expert in counterterrorism issues and the laws of war said that the new details, while horrific, did not change the underlying legal issues.</p>
2393.  
2394.  
2395.  
2396. <p>“The U.S. president is asserting the power to engage in the premeditated killing of people outside of armed conflict,” he told The Intercept. “There is no evidence that these people were lawful targets. The Trump administration hasn&#8217;t established that there was an armed conflict, hasn’t established that the law of armed conflict governed any such hostilities, and hasn&#8217;t established that the people aboard the vessel, the vessel itself, or its cargo were lawful targets under the law of war.”</p>
2397.  
2398.  
2399.  
2400. <p>Members of Congress from both parties have expressed alarm about the attack. Paul told The Intercept that while he didn’t oppose the use of drones in war, he objected to the U.S. summarily killing people without due process.</p>
2401.  
2402.  
2403.  
2404. <p>“During my time in the Senate, I have been the foremost critic of drones being used on civilians, especially Americans,” <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/10/trump-venezuela-boat-attack-drone/">said Paul</a>, a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. “The recent drone attack on a small speedboat over 2,000 miles from our shore without identification of the occupants or the content of the boat is in no way part of a declared war and defies our longstanding Coast Guard rules of engagement which include: warnings to halt, non-lethal force to capture, and ultimately lethal force in self-defense or in cases of resistance.”</p>
2405.  
2406.  
2407.  
2408.  <div class="promote-related-post">
2409.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
2410.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/05/pentagon-official-trump-boat-strike-was-a-criminal-attack-on-civilians/"
2411.      data-ga-track="in_article-body"
2412.      data-ga-track-action="related post embed: pentagon-official-trump-boat-strike-was-a-criminal-attack-on-civilians"
2413.      data-ga-track-label="pentagon-official-trump-boat-strike-was-a-criminal-attack-on-civilians"
2414.          >
2415.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/boatvid1-e1757086018627.png?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
2416.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
2417.        Related      </h2>
2418.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Pentagon Official: Trump Boat Strike Was a Criminal Attack on Civilians</h3>
2419.    </span>
2420.    </a>
2421.  </div>
2422.  
2423.  
2424.  
2425. <p>Last week, a high-ranking Pentagon official who spoke to the Intercept on the condition of anonymity said that the strike in the Caribbean was a <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/05/pentagon-official-trump-boat-strike-was-a-criminal-attack-on-civilians/?utm_content=bufferceea8&amp;utm_medium=buffer&amp;utm_source=bsky&amp;utm_campaign=theintercept">criminal attack on civilians</a> and said that the Trump administration paved the way for it by firing the top legal authorities of the Army and the Air Force earlier this year.</p>
2426.  
2427.  
2428.  
2429. <p>“The U.S. is now directly targeting civilians. Drug traffickers may be criminals but they aren’t combatants,” the War Department official said. “When Trump fired the military’s top lawyers the rest saw the writing on the wall, and instead of being a critical firebreak they are now a rubber stamp complicit in this crime.”</p>
2430. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/10/u-s-attacked-boat-near-venezuela-multiple-times-to-kill-survivors/">U.S. Attacked Boat Near Venezuela Multiple Times to Kill Survivors</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
2431. ]]></content:encoded>
2432.                                <wfw:commentRss>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/10/u-s-attacked-boat-near-venezuela-multiple-times-to-kill-survivors/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
2433.                <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
2434.                <media:content url='https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-10-at-7.31.53-PM-e1757547158823.png?fit=2958%2C1477' width='2958' height='1477' /><post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">498709</post-id>
2435. <media:thumbnail url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2221348960_94c72c-e1757705558549.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" />
2436. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2221348960_94c72c-e1757705558549.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
2437. <media:title type="html">US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (R), flanked by US President Donald Trump, speaks at a press conference during the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in The Hague on June 25, 2025. (Photo by JOHN THYS / AFP) (Photo by JOHN THYS/AFP via Getty Images)</media:title>
2438. </media:content>
2439. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2222497571-e1757608186419.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
2440. <media:title type="html">WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 2: Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) walks into the office of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) at the U.S. Capitol Building on July 2, 2025 in Washington, DC. House Republicans began work on final passage of the &#34;One, Big, Beautiful Bill&#34; Act yesterday, less than two hours after the Senate passed its version of President Donald Trump&#039;s signature domestic agenda legislation. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)</media:title>
2441. </media:content>
2442. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/crop-AP25246393159091-e1757703046180.webp?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
2443. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/boatvid1-e1757086018627.png?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
2444.            </item>
2445.        
2446.            <item>
2447.                <title><![CDATA[EU Leader Calls to Sanction Israel as U.S. Progressives Push to End Arms Sales]]></title>
2448.                <link>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/10/eu-us-gaza-israel-qatar-bombing/</link>
2449.                <comments>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/10/eu-us-gaza-israel-qatar-bombing/#respond</comments>
2450.                <pubDate>Wed, 10 Sep 2025 20:59:54 +0000</pubDate>
2451.                                    <dc:creator><![CDATA[Jessica Washington]]></dc:creator>
2452.                                 <category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
2453. <category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
2454.  
2455.                <guid isPermaLink="false"></guid>
2456.                                    <description><![CDATA[<p>Calls to end complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza have escalated in the EU and U.S. — but both face opposition from the political status quo.</p>
2457. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/10/eu-us-gaza-israel-qatar-bombing/">EU Leader Calls to Sanction Israel as U.S. Progressives Push to End Arms Sales</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
2458. ]]></description>
2459.                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[
2460. <p><span class="has-underline">The president of</span> the European Union Commission called for sanctions and a partial trade suspension against Israel on Wednesday, as international outrage grew <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/09/israel-attacks-doha-qatar/">over the country’s strikes on Qatar</a> and Yemen<strong> </strong>and its <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/08/08/intercept-briefing-podcast-gaza-aid-food/">ongoing starvation</a> of the<a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/07/24/gaza-humanitarian-foundation-israel-aid-starvation/"> Palestinian people in Gaza</a>. </p>
2461.  
2462.  
2463.  
2464. <p>“What is happening in Gaza has shaken the conscience of the world,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at her annual State of the Union address in Strasbourg, France. “People killed while begging for food. Mothers holding lifeless babies. These images are simply catastrophic.”</p>
2465.  
2466.  
2467.  
2468.  
2469.  
2470.  
2471.  
2472. <p>Von der Leyen’s proposed sanctions signaled a possible shift in the West’s relationship with its decadeslong ally. She said the commission, which operates as the executive branch of the European Union and can take limited unilateral actions, would end its bilateral support of Israel and suspend funding for projects within Israel, with exceptions for work with Israeli civil society and Israel’s Holocaust remembrance center. But more dramatic actions — like sanctioning Israeli ministers and partially suspending the EU&#8217;s trade agreement with Israel — would require potentially difficult votes from EU member states.</p>
2473.  
2474.  
2475.  
2476. <p>In the United States, meanwhile, the chorus of progressive voices calling for an end to the country&#8217;s complicity in the ongoing genocide <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/09/israel-qatar-doha-bombing-gaza-ceasefire/">escalated</a> — but remains stymied by the status quo in Washington.</p>
2477.  
2478.  
2479.  
2480.  <div class="promote-related-post">
2481.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
2482.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/09/israel-qatar-doha-bombing-gaza-ceasefire/"
2483.      data-ga-track="in_article-body"
2484.      data-ga-track-action="related post embed: israel-qatar-doha-bombing-gaza-ceasefire"
2485.      data-ga-track-label="israel-qatar-doha-bombing-gaza-ceasefire"
2486.          >
2487.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/AP25196848453446-e1757448016955.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
2488.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
2489.        Related      </h2>
2490.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Progressives Urge U.S. Arms Embargo After Israel Bombs Qatar</h3>
2491.    </span>
2492.    </a>
2493.  </div>
2494.  
2495.  
2496.  
2497. <p>Gathered in the pouring rain on Wednesday morning, progressive Democrats in Congress joined activists including the <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/06/20/mahmoud-khalil-homeland-security-investigations-ice-surveillance/">freed </a>Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil and the actors Cynthia Nixon and Morgan Spector to urge Congress to pass the Block the Bombs Act. The legislation would block the United States from sending some U.S.-made weapons to Israel. </p>
2498.  
2499.  
2500.  
2501. <p>“Netanyahu is using U.S.-supplied weapons to perpetrate this campaign of starvation, displacement, and death in violation of U.S. and international humanitarian law,” said Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., who introduced the Block the Bombs Act in the House.</p>
2502.  
2503.  
2504.  
2505. <p>The legislation now boasts 45 co-sponsors,<a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/08/27/block-bombs-israel-arms-gaza-aipac/"> </a>including <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/08/27/block-bombs-israel-arms-gaza-aipac/">several Democrats who&#8217;ve received funding from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee </a>in recent election cycles.</p>
2506.  
2507.  
2508.  
2509. <p>Even with the growing support for ending the U.S. shipment of certain types of weapons to Israel among Democrats, passing the Block the Bombs Act in either chamber is an uphill battle. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., have remained steadfast in their support of supplying weapons to Israel.</p>
2510.  
2511.  
2512.  
2513.  
2514.  
2515.  
2516.  
2517. <p>No Republicans have signed on to co-sponsor the Block the Bombs Act in the House. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/02/26/bernie-sanders-israel-arms-gaza/">introduced similar legislation</a> in the Senate, but despite gaining some momentum among Democrats, it has <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/04/03/bernie-sanders-aipac-israel-weapons-sales/">not been able </a>to <a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/11/20/bernie-sanders-block-weapons-arms-israel-gaza/">garner enough support</a> to pass.</p>
2518.  
2519.  
2520.  
2521.  <div class="promote-related-post">
2522.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
2523.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/05/03/eu-israel-palestine-war-crimes-accountability/"
2524.      data-ga-track="in_article-body"
2525.      data-ga-track-action="related post embed: eu-israel-palestine-war-crimes-accountability"
2526.      data-ga-track-label="eu-israel-palestine-war-crimes-accountability"
2527.          >
2528.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/GettyImages-1746255015-e1746211096100.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
2529.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
2530.        Related      </h2>
2531.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">EU President Should Be Investigated for Complicity in Israel’s War Crimes, Says Top U.N. Expert on Palestine</h3>
2532.    </span>
2533.    </a>
2534.  </div>
2535.  
2536.  
2537.  
2538. <p>Dramatic penalties against Israel have similarly gained vocal support in the EU but still struggle to gain final approval. Von der Leyen’s proposals to sanction &#8220;extremist ministers&#8221; and &#8220;violent settlers&#8221; and partially suspend the EU&#8217;s trade agreement with Israel likely faces long odds, as less ambitious proposals to sanction Israel have stymied — leaving the fate of these two proposals unclear — even as some European nations <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/france-and-uk-condemn-israels-doha-attack">have condemned Israel for its actions</a> in Gaza and Qatar. </p>
2539.  
2540.  
2541.  
2542. <p>But in the U.S. and EU alike, critics of Israel’s genocide highlighted the moral imperative of action despite political opposition. </p>
2543.  
2544.  
2545.  
2546. <p>“Man-made famine can never be a weapon of war. For the sake of the children, for the sake of humanity, this must stop,” von der Leyen said Wednesday in Strasbourg.</p>
2547.  
2548.  
2549.  
2550. <p>Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., made similar comments in Washington.</p>
2551.  
2552.  
2553.  
2554. <p>“Our humanity is at stake here,” she said. “Vengeance and greed cannot be the United States&#8217; policy doctrine. No country can bomb their way to peace. Starving a child is violent. The children are all of ours, always. History has its eyes on us. Our children will ask what we did in this moment. And the only acceptable answer is everything we could.”</p>
2555.  
2556.  
2557.  
2558. <p>Khalil, an Algerian Palestinian activist who was <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/03/13/briefing-podcast-mahmoud-khalil-free-speech/">detained</a> by the Trump administration for his <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/04/10/deportation-case-mahmoud-khalil-antisemitism-rubio-trump/">advocacy against Israel’s genocide</a> at Columbia University, said he’d braved a trip to the seat of the federal government to fight for his people. </p>
2559.  
2560.  
2561.  
2562. <p>“The U.S. government has sent over $30 billion worth of weapons and equipment to the Israeli occupation power over the past two years,” Khalil said. “These weapons and equipment are being used by Israel to kill Palestinians to carry out mass atrocity after another mass atrocity against my people. There is one clear and obvious way for Congress to act and save lives. They should stop all weapons, all weapons. Stop sending all weapons to Israel.” </p>
2563. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/10/eu-us-gaza-israel-qatar-bombing/">EU Leader Calls to Sanction Israel as U.S. Progressives Push to End Arms Sales</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
2564. ]]></content:encoded>
2565.                                <wfw:commentRss>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/10/eu-us-gaza-israel-qatar-bombing/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
2566.                <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
2567.                <media:content url='https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2234016128-e1757536506139.jpg?fit=7795%2C3897' width='7795' height='3897' /><post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">498695</post-id>
2568. <media:thumbnail url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2221348960_94c72c-e1757705558549.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" />
2569. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2221348960_94c72c-e1757705558549.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
2570. <media:title type="html">US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (R), flanked by US President Donald Trump, speaks at a press conference during the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in The Hague on June 25, 2025. (Photo by JOHN THYS / AFP) (Photo by JOHN THYS/AFP via Getty Images)</media:title>
2571. </media:content>
2572. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2222497571-e1757608186419.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
2573. <media:title type="html">WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 2: Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) walks into the office of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) at the U.S. Capitol Building on July 2, 2025 in Washington, DC. House Republicans began work on final passage of the &#34;One, Big, Beautiful Bill&#34; Act yesterday, less than two hours after the Senate passed its version of President Donald Trump&#039;s signature domestic agenda legislation. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)</media:title>
2574. </media:content>
2575. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/crop-AP25246393159091-e1757703046180.webp?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
2576. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/AP25196848453446-e1757448016955.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
2577. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/GettyImages-1746255015-e1746211096100.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
2578.            </item>
2579.        
2580.            <item>
2581.                <title><![CDATA[Gaza Students Found a Lifeline to U.S. Colleges. Then Trump Shut the Door.]]></title>
2582.                <link>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/10/gaza-palestinian-student-visa-ban-trump/</link>
2583.                <comments>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/10/gaza-palestinian-student-visa-ban-trump/#respond</comments>
2584.                <pubDate>Wed, 10 Sep 2025 19:02:19 +0000</pubDate>
2585.                                    <dc:creator><![CDATA[Sanya Mansoor]]></dc:creator>
2586.                                 <category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
2587. <category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
2588.  
2589.                <guid isPermaLink="false"></guid>
2590.                                    <description><![CDATA[<p>Palestinian students who were admitted to American universities are now trapped in Gaza, where Israel has destroyed most schools.</p>
2591. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/10/gaza-palestinian-student-visa-ban-trump/">Gaza Students Found a Lifeline to U.S. Colleges. Then Trump Shut the Door.</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
2592. ]]></description>
2593.                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[
2594. <p><span class="has-underline">Maryam walked for</span> two hours through the streets of Gaza, reciting verses of protection from the Quran. She was hunting for a faint internet connection. Under a sky choked with smoke and dust, Maryam wound through roads converted to sprawling tent camps and long lines of children waiting for food, until she arrived at an office building where she could catch a scrap of a data signal.</p>
2595.  
2596.  
2597.  
2598. <p>There, Maryam saw a lifeline. After weeks of applying — and making dangerous trips to connect to the internet — an American university had given her a full-ride admission into its computer science program. “I was trapped in darkness, but God gifted me something to be thankful for,” Maryam said.</p>
2599.  
2600.  
2601.  
2602. <p>That feeling was short-lived. After receiving her acceptance in April, she submitted her visa application earlier this month — right after the Trump administration instructed U.S. embassies to ban most Palestinian visitor visas. These restrictions, put in place in August, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/31/world/middleeast/us-palestinian-visa-suspensions.html">apply to</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/31/world/middleeast/us-palestinian-visa-suspensions.html">students</a>, as well as those traveling to the U.S. for business, medical treatment, or to visit family. “The suspension hit hard, but I was never shocked,” she said. </p>
2603.  
2604.  
2605.  
2606.  <div class="promote-related-post">
2607.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
2608.            href="https://theintercept.com/2024/02/09/deconstructed-gaza-university-education/"
2609.      data-ga-track="in_article-body"
2610.      data-ga-track-action="related post embed: deconstructed-gaza-university-education"
2611.      data-ga-track-label="deconstructed-gaza-university-education"
2612.          >
2613.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/deconstructed-gaza-ft.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
2614.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
2615.        Related      </h2>
2616.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">No University Left Standing in Gaza</h3>
2617.    </span>
2618.    </a>
2619.  </div>
2620.  
2621.  
2622.  
2623. <p>Continuing her higher education in Gaza would be impossible. Israel destroyed Maryam’s university in Gaza City, where she was a fourth-year software engineering student, in October 2023. She would have deeply grieved the faculty members who were killed, but the constant news of death has numbed her emotions. “Now, I just find a strange sense of peace for those who passed,” she said.</p>
2624.  
2625.  
2626.  
2627. <p>Maryam is one of at least a few dozen Palestinian students who recently received offers and scholarships from American universities. The ban means most Palestinian visa applicants will be refused. The students interviewed by The Intercept for this piece asked to go by pseudonyms, out of fear for their safety.</p>
2628.  
2629.  
2630.  
2631. <p>“The State Department is acting in an arbitrary and capricious manner against victims of genocide by suspending these visas and not giving any context or reason for why,” said Juliette Majid, a co-founder of Student Justice Network, a group that has been <a href="https://studentjusticenetwork.substack.com/p/sjn-condemns-the-suspension-of-non">helping </a>Palestinian students apply to American universities. “Even with all of these achievements, these students are still looked at as … a threat instead of a gift.”</p>
2632.  
2633.  
2634.  
2635. <p>While the Trump administration <a href="https://x.com/StateDept/status/1956717342693458359?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1956717342693458359%7Ctwgr%5E77f2c43e6c0286fce013ca491be9a7c8e01e5f73%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fiframe.nbcnews.com%2F7EdJb3Db%3F_showcaption%3Dtrueapp%3D1">publicly announced</a> stopping all visitor visas for individuals from Gaza on August 16, U.S. officials were not as transparent about expanding the ban. The measure was detailed in an August 18 cable sent by the State Department to American embassies and consulates around the world. “The administration is cowardly, because they know there’s going to be pushback,” Majid said.&nbsp;</p>
2636.  
2637.  
2638.  
2639. <p>The State Department said in an emailed response that the Trump administration’s actions are in compliance with U.S. law. “Every visa decision is a national security decision, and the State Department is vetting and adjudicating visa decisions for PA passport holders accordingly.”</p>
2640.  
2641.  
2642.  
2643.  
2644.  
2645.  
2646.  
2647. <p><span class="has-underline">The U.S. immigration</span> system has developed ways to exclude people for decades, from the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, to the<a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/01/29/trumps-muslim-ban-triggers-chaos-heartbreak-and-resistance/"> Muslim</a> and African travel bans and<a href="https://theintercept.com/2018/10/11/trump-family-separation-immigration/"> family separation</a> policies under<a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/06/05/border-asylum-biden-executive-order/"> Biden</a> and Trump’s presidencies. But Palestinians have often been singled out for exclusion — not only for who they are, but also because they are stateless, and therefore unprotected under international law, said Los Angeles-based immigration lawyer Ban Al-Wardi.</p>
2648.  
2649.  
2650.  
2651. <p>Even before the visa ban, Palestinians in Gaza had to overcome a bureaucratic maze of requirements while <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/08/08/intercept-briefing-podcast-gaza-aid-food/">surviving a famine</a> and <a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/10/06/israel-bombing-schools-children-gaza-education/">relentless bombing</a> to arrange their admission and travel to American universities. The State Department already had <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/07/01/trump-student-visa-social-media/">broad discretion</a> to <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/08/23/trump-international-students-visa-denial-university/">deny visas</a>. The doctrine of consular nonreviewability means it’s typically not possible for courts to review the reasons used to deny a visa. This leaves applicants with virtually no way to challenge decisions.&nbsp;</p>
2652.  
2653.  
2654.  
2655. <p>The American government’s typical vetting process includes a standard nonimmigrant visa form (the DS-160) that includes basic details about family, employment, school, and criminal record. Palestinians also need to get a criminal clearance report, issued by the Israeli police, to prove they have never been arrested. They must attend an in-person interview at an American embassy. For Palestinians in Gaza, getting to the <a href="https://theintercept.com/2018/05/14/ivanka-trump-opens-u-s-embassy-jerusalem-israeli-massacre-palestinians/">consulate in Jerusalem</a> is difficult because of restrictions on movement, so they typically go to the embassy in Cairo. But the Rafah crossing to Egypt has been shut down.</p>
2656.  
2657.  
2658.  
2659. <p>Some students reported being asked if they ever worked for a government agency in Gaza, volunteered for <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/07/29/gaza-unrwa-aid-congress-republicans/">UNRWA</a>, or taught at a public school, Al-Wardi notes. The interview often includes details about their family. “It&#8217;s like an information gathering session,” Al-Wardi said. “You might not know exactly what has been going on with your uncle or cousin, but you could be accused of omitting material facts if you don’t mention them.” Some students were called back for secondary interviews and received a supplemental DS-5535 form, which digs deeper into phone numbers, addresses, and emails associated with their name. <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/07/01/trump-student-visa-social-media/">Social media accounts must be public</a> and provided to the American government. At the American airport, students from Arab countries are often pulled aside for a secondary screening in which U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers question them and<a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/03/29/customs-us-border-travel-airports-phone-searches/"> search their electronic devices</a>, Al-Wardi notes.</p>
2660.  
2661.  
2662.  
2663. <p>The American government has built-in processes to review secondary evidence in cases where key documents are not available, but getting those can be logistically complicated too. Gaza’s postal system has also been largely destroyed over the last three years. Many students used attorneys, notary public officials, family, and friends outside&nbsp;Gaza to help them access important documents and facilitate the process on their behalf.</p>
2664.  
2665.  
2666.  
2667. <p>Universities typically review academic transcripts as part of their admissions process. But many students lost school records, as well as birth certificates and proof of identity, after Israel <a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/10/07/oct-7-anniversary-year-israel-gaza-war-dead/">bombed </a>their <a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/12/11/north-gaza-israel-generals-plan-survivors/">homes </a>and <a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/02/09/deconstructed-gaza-university-education/">universities</a>.<br><br><!-- BLOCK(promote-post)[1](%7B%22componentName%22%3A%22PROMOTE_POST%22%2C%22entityType%22%3A%22SHORTCODE%22%2C%22optional%22%3Atrue%7D)(%7B%22slug%22%3A%22israel-palestine%22%2C%22crop%22%3A%22promo%22%7D) -->  <aside class="promote-banner">
2668.    <a class="promote-banner__link" href="https://theintercept.com/collections/israel-palestine/">
2669.              <span class="promote-banner__image">
2670.          <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="150" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?fit=300%2C150" class="attachment-medium size-medium" alt="DEIR AL-BALAH, GAZA - NOVEMBER 7: Civil defense teams and citizens continue search and rescue operations after an airstrike hits the building belonging to the Maslah family during the 32nd day of Israeli attacks in Deir Al-Balah, Gaza on November 7, 2023. (Photo by Ashraf Amra/Anadolu via Getty Images)" srcset="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=5760 5760w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=300 300w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=768 768w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=1536 1536w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=2048 2048w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=540 540w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=1000 1000w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=2400 2400w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=3600 3600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />        </span>
2671.            <div class="promote-banner__text">
2672.                  <p class="promote-banner__eyebrow">
2673.            Read our complete coverage          </p>
2674.        
2675.        <h2 class="promote-banner__title">Israel’s War on Gaza</h2>
2676.      </div>
2677.    </a>
2678.  </aside>
2679. <!-- END-BLOCK(promote-post)[1] --></p>
2680.  
2681.  
2682.  
2683. <p>Ali, a 40-year-old living in North Gaza with his wife and three children, wants to pursue a master’s degree in nutritional science. He applied to American universities last November but lost documents that proved his identity after Israel bombed his house in late 2023. He also needed a copy of his degree certificate, but his university in Gaza had been destroyed. One of his old professors, who moved to Canada from Gaza in 2023, helped Ali get another copy of the document. While Ali waited to hear back from the school, he worked for an American humanitarian organization as a nutritional program support officer, helping to find points to distribute hot meals and providing nutritional support to internally displaced Palestinians in Gaza.</p>
2684.  
2685.  
2686.  
2687. <p>Ali was excited to learn about his acceptance into an American university but later was disheartened by the ban. “I’m so frustrated that I’m unable to think,” he said. The plan was always to return to Gaza to apply what he learned into practice. “There is no [place with a] greater need for an effective nutrition program. I came to understand the importance of this field and the need for it, especially during the war.” </p>
2688.  
2689.  
2690.  
2691. <p>Aisha, a graduate student in physics, also lost her identification documents when Israel bombed her home in late 2023. She would walk almost an hour on foot, toward the Egyptian border, hoping to connect to the internet to complete her admissions process. Aisha used to live in Gaza City with her husband and two children but has since been displaced more than 19 times. She has lived in tents, as well as on the street. During her master’s program in physics, Israel destroyed her university and killed a physics professor who had become a mentor. He had scribbled the phrase “Stay well, my physicist” in her notebook a day before he died.</p>
2692.  
2693.  
2694.  
2695.  <div class="promote-related-post">
2696.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
2697.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/08/23/trump-international-students-visa-denial-university/"
2698.      data-ga-track="in_article-body"
2699.      data-ga-track-action="related post embed: trump-international-students-visa-denial-university"
2700.      data-ga-track-label="trump-international-students-visa-denial-university"
2701.          >
2702.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/GettyImages-2209645913-e1755892279332.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
2703.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
2704.        Related      </h2>
2705.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Accepted at Universities, Unable to Get Visas: Inside Trump’s War on International Students</h3>
2706.    </span>
2707.    </a>
2708.  </div>
2709.  
2710.  
2711.  
2712. <p>Lawyers and advocacy groups in the U.S. are now limited in their ability to help. The Student Justice Network assisted dozens of Palestinian students with their university applications and connected them with educational, legal, and community resources.&nbsp;The Arab Resource and Organizing Center’s Project Immigration Justice for Palestinians — made up of more than 400 volunteer lawyers, paralegals, and translators— helped Palestinian Americans reunite with family members trapped in Gaza. Some attorneys with the group focused on supporting Palestinians students in Gaza, who were admitted into American universities, in the visa application process.&nbsp;</p>
2713.  
2714.  
2715.  
2716. <p>In the meantime, Palestinian students are no longer looking to the U.S. as a lifeline. When Aisha received an acceptance and scholarship to pursue her Ph.D. at an American university, she cried and hugged her two children tightly, whispering to them, “We will survive this genocide.” She used to spend hours looking at photos of university labs abroad, knowing that they had access to materials and resources that are banned from entering Gaza.&nbsp;</p>
2717.  
2718.  
2719.  
2720. <p>When Aisha learned about the visa ban, she cried with the same intensity as when she was first accepted. “My only hope is to see my children grow up in a safe world, where science and knowledge guide us toward a brighter, more peaceful future,” she said. “We are not what they say about us.”</p>
2721. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/10/gaza-palestinian-student-visa-ban-trump/">Gaza Students Found a Lifeline to U.S. Colleges. Then Trump Shut the Door.</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
2722. ]]></content:encoded>
2723.                                <wfw:commentRss>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/10/gaza-palestinian-student-visa-ban-trump/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
2724.                <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
2725.                <media:content url='https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2223693298-e1757530760868.jpeg?fit=5680%2C2840' width='5680' height='2840' /><post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">498674</post-id>
2726. <media:thumbnail url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/deconstructed-gaza-ft.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" />
2727. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/deconstructed-gaza-ft.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
2728. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2221348960_94c72c-e1757705558549.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
2729. <media:title type="html">US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (R), flanked by US President Donald Trump, speaks at a press conference during the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in The Hague on June 25, 2025. (Photo by JOHN THYS / AFP) (Photo by JOHN THYS/AFP via Getty Images)</media:title>
2730. </media:content>
2731. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2222497571-e1757608186419.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
2732. <media:title type="html">WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 2: Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) walks into the office of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) at the U.S. Capitol Building on July 2, 2025 in Washington, DC. House Republicans began work on final passage of the &#34;One, Big, Beautiful Bill&#34; Act yesterday, less than two hours after the Senate passed its version of President Donald Trump&#039;s signature domestic agenda legislation. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)</media:title>
2733. </media:content>
2734. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/crop-AP25246393159091-e1757703046180.webp?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
2735. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?fit=300%2C150" medium="image">
2736. <media:title type="html">DEIR AL-BALAH, GAZA - NOVEMBER 7: Civil defense teams and citizens continue search and rescue operations after an airstrike hits the building belonging to the Maslah family during the 32nd day of Israeli attacks in Deir Al-Balah, Gaza on November 7, 2023. (Photo by Ashraf Amra/Anadolu via Getty Images)</media:title>
2737. </media:content>
2738. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/GettyImages-2209645913-e1755892279332.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
2739.            </item>
2740.        
2741.            <item>
2742.                <title><![CDATA[Rand Paul Reveals Venezuela Boat Attack Was a Drone Strike]]></title>
2743.                <link>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/10/trump-venezuela-boat-attack-drone/</link>
2744.                <comments>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/10/trump-venezuela-boat-attack-drone/#respond</comments>
2745.                <pubDate>Wed, 10 Sep 2025 16:32:40 +0000</pubDate>
2746.                                    <dc:creator><![CDATA[Nick Turse]]></dc:creator>
2747.                                 <category><![CDATA[National Security]]></category>
2748. <category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
2749.  
2750.                <guid isPermaLink="false"></guid>
2751.                                    <description><![CDATA[<p>The senator told The Intercept the attack defied rules of engagement and came from a drone. A legal expert calls it murder.</p>
2752. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/10/trump-venezuela-boat-attack-drone/">Rand Paul Reveals Venezuela Boat Attack Was a Drone Strike</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
2753. ]]></description>
2754.                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[
2755. <p><span class="has-underline">The attack on</span> a boat in the Caribbean last Tuesday was carried out by a drone, according to a Republican senator.</p>
2756.  
2757.  
2758.  
2759. <p>Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., took aim at the Trump administration for glorifying the killing of people without trial, saying that the “lethal strike” was a breach of long-accepted rules of engagement. He also disclosed that it was a drone strike, a fact that the Pentagon and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth have <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/hegseth-issues-stark-warning-drug-traffickers-following-us-military-strike-venezuelan-vessel">refused to reveal</a>.</p>
2760.  
2761.  
2762.  
2763. <p>Paul first criticized the attack in a back-and-forth with Vice President JD Vance on social media. Vance responded to the suggestion that the strike was a war crime by <a href="https://x.com/JDVance/status/1964341436096057502">writing on X</a>, “I don’t give a shit what you call it.”&nbsp;Paul <a href="https://x.com/RandPaul/status/1964494191783714933?t=-tk9U3eTwYly_yEh8widFQ&amp;s=19">responded</a> on Saturday calling Vance’s comments about killing people without a trial “despicable and thoughtless.”&nbsp;</p>
2764.  
2765.  
2766.  
2767. <p>Paul told The Intercept he didn’t oppose the use of drones in war but objected to summarily killing people without due process.</p>
2768.  
2769.  
2770.  
2771. <p>“During my time in the Senate, I have been the foremost critic of drones being used on civilians, especially Americans,” said Paul, a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. “The recent drone attack on a small speedboat over 2,000 miles from our shore without identification of the occupants or the content of the boat is in no way part of a declared war and defies our longstanding Coast Guard rules of engagement which include: warnings to halt, non-lethal force to capture, and ultimately lethal force in self-defense or in cases of resistance.”</p>
2772.  
2773.  
2774.  
2775. <p>Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., and the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, was also alarmed about the attack. “It is unacceptable that, a week after the strike, Members of the Foreign Affairs Committee have yet to be briefed by the administration on this use of force despite the Committee’s clear jurisdiction,” he said in a statement on Tuesday. &#8220;We are a nation of laws, not of one man’s whims. Donald Trump does not have the authority to order strikes in international waters.”</p>
2776.  
2777.  
2778.  
2779. <p>President Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115136798909755892" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">posted a video</a>&nbsp;to social media last week showing a four-engine speedboat cutting through the water with numerous people on board. An explosion then destroys the boat. Trump said the strike killed 11 people whom he characterized as “narcoterrorists.” The administration has offered no evidence to bolster these assertions.</p>
2780.  
2781.  
2782.  
2783.  
2784.  
2785.  
2786.  
2787. <p><span class="has-underline">Experts say that</span> whoever was on board, the attack was an extrajudicial killing by the Trump administration — or flat-out murder.</p>
2788.  
2789.  
2790.  
2791. <p>“All people, no matter where they live or what crime they have been accused of, have fundamental human rights, including the rights to life and due process,” said Annie Shiel, the U.S. advocacy director of the Center for Civilians in Conflict. “Using lethal force in this way, outside of any recognizable armed conflict and without due process, is an extrajudicial execution, not an act of war.”</p>
2792.  
2793.  
2794.  
2795. <p>Brian Finucane, a former State Department lawyer who is a specialist in counterterrorism issues and the laws of war, said that given the evidence that has emerged, the government’s statements, and after discussions with other national security lawyers in the week since the strike, he has formed stronger conclusions about the legality of the attack.</p>
2796.  
2797.  
2798.  
2799. <p>“I&#8217;m much more inclined to think this was just flat-out murder. And I&#8217;ve bent over backwards to be generous to the government in my interpretations,” he told The Intercept. “There are circumstances in which the U.S. can use lethal force but that is in the context of an armed conflict, against a lawful target — an enemy combatant. The Trump administration has not even bothered to make that argument. They have not argued that the United States is in an armed conflict governed by the law of war. They have not argued, much less substantiated, that the target of this attack was a lawful target.”</p>
2800.  
2801.  
2802.  
2803. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-right"><blockquote><p>“Outside of armed conflict, we have a word for the premeditated killing of people. That word is murder.”</p></blockquote></figure>
2804.  
2805.  
2806.  
2807. <p>Finucane accused the government of using legalistic sleight of hand to confuse the various organized armed groups the U.S. has fought during the war on terror and the criminal entities it&#8217;s now targeting in Latin America. He also took a dim view of Trump’s <a href="https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/trump-offers-first-legal-justification-for-venezuela-boat-strike" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">War Powers report to Congress</a>,&nbsp;in which the president justified the attack under his Article II constitutional authority as commander in chief of the U.S. military and claimed to be acting pursuant to the United States’ inherent right of self-defense as a matter of international law.</p>
2808.  
2809.  
2810.  
2811. <p>“The war powers certification doesn&#8217;t even identify the supposed designated terrorist organization. It uses a lot of legal terms but does not make any sort of coherent legal argument,” Finucane said. “What is conspicuously absent is any attempt at a legal justification for the premeditated killing of people. And outside of armed conflict, we have a word for the premeditated killing of people. That word is murder.”</p>
2812.  
2813.  
2814.  
2815.  <div class="promote-related-post">
2816.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
2817.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/05/pentagon-official-trump-boat-strike-was-a-criminal-attack-on-civilians/"
2818.      data-ga-track="in_article-body"
2819.      data-ga-track-action="related post embed: pentagon-official-trump-boat-strike-was-a-criminal-attack-on-civilians"
2820.      data-ga-track-label="pentagon-official-trump-boat-strike-was-a-criminal-attack-on-civilians"
2821.          >
2822.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/boatvid1-e1757086018627.png?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
2823.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
2824.        Related      </h2>
2825.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Pentagon Official: Trump Boat Strike Was a Criminal Attack on Civilians</h3>
2826.    </span>
2827.    </a>
2828.  </div>
2829.  
2830.  
2831.  
2832. <p>Last week, a high-ranking Pentagon official who spoke to the Intercept on the condition of anonymity said that the strike in the Caribbean was a <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/05/pentagon-official-trump-boat-strike-was-a-criminal-attack-on-civilians/?utm_content=bufferceea8&amp;utm_medium=buffer&amp;utm_source=bsky&amp;utm_campaign=theintercept">criminal attack on civilians</a> and said that the Trump administration paved the way for it by firing the top legal authorities of the Army and the Air Force earlier this year. “The U.S. is now directly targeting civilians. Drug traffickers may be criminals but they aren’t combatants,” the War Department official said. “When Trump fired the military’s top lawyers the rest saw the writing on the wall, and instead of being a critical firebreak they are now a rubber stamp complicit in this crime.”</p>
2833.  
2834.  
2835.  
2836. <p>The Pentagon refused to comment on the official’s characterization of the strike. “We have nothing additional to provide,” press secretary Kingsley Wilson wrote in an email after providing nothing.</p>
2837.  
2838.  
2839.  
2840. <p>Asked about Paul’s disclosure that the strike last Tuesday was carried out by a drone, Wilson replied: “Nothing for you on that.”</p>
2841.  
2842.  
2843.  
2844. <p>Secretary of State Marco Rubio made clear that the U.S. could have halted the ship and arrested the crew but chose to summarily execute them instead. “Instead of interdicting it, on the president’s orders, we blew it up — and it’ll happen again,” <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/05/politics/trump-weighs-strikes-targeting-cartels-inside-venezuela">he boasted</a>.</p>
2845.  
2846.  
2847.  
2848. <p>Finucane called the admission “horrifying” and pointed to the legal ramifications. The assertion that the president opted to blow the vessel up to send a message “ undercuts any sort of claim that the U S was acting in self-defense, either for purposes of international law or self-defense as an affirmative defense to charges of murder by the president,” Finucane said.</p>
2849.  
2850.  
2851.  
2852. <p><a href="https://www.law.georgetown.edu/faculty/todd-c-huntley/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Todd Huntley</a>, a former Staff Judge Advocate who served as a legal adviser on Joint Special Operations task forces conducting drone strikes in Afghanistan and elsewhere and now directs the national security law program at Georgetown University Law Center, said that the strike risked opening the door to attacks against Americans — and even U.S. citizens — within the United States.</p>
2853.  
2854.  
2855.  
2856. <p>“With Afghanistan, Iraq, and the war on terror, we framed everything as counterterrorism. And we’ve seen counterterrorism and counter-insurgency tactics flowing back into the United States with militarized policing,” Huntley told The Intercept. “Now, if the president is willing to strike a boat in international waters, is he willing to use force against a vehicle with members of a cartel in it? What if there is a civilian, like a wife or a girlfriend — an American citizen — in the vehicle? It’s a slippery slope.”</p>
2857.  
2858.  
2859.  
2860.  
2861.  
2862.  
2863.  
2864. <p><span class="has-underline">Venezuela’s government pushed</span> back on claims that the country is a key player in the global drug trade on Monday. Vice President Delcy Rodríguez <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4cX5VNk9EU">offered</a> a detailed <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c7OJlf7JDY">rebuttal</a>, citing reports from the United Nations and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, insisting that Venezuela “has absolutely nothing to do with the deaths of [U.S.] citizens from drug overdoses.” Rodríguez added that her country “is not relevant” in global drug production and said that the U.S. government should redirect its recently deployed maritime forces in the Caribbean to the Pacific, where speedboats and container ships have, she said, long carried Colombian cocaine.</p>
2865.  
2866.  
2867.  
2868. <p>Venezuelan officials believe Trump may be renewing&nbsp;<a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/01/30/donald-trump-and-the-yankee-plot-to-overthrow-the-venezuelan-government/">long-running efforts</a>, which failed during his <a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/02/13/neoliberalism-or-death-the-u-s-economic-war-against-venezuela/">first term</a>, to topple President Nicolás Maduro’s government. Maduro and several close allies <a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/05/09/venezuela-coup-regime-change/">were indicted</a> in a New York federal court in 2020 on federal charges of narco-terrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine. Last month, the U.S. doubled its reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest to $50 million.</p>
2869.  
2870.  
2871.  
2872.  <div class="promote-related-post">
2873.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
2874.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/09/venezuela-boat-oil-trump-latin-america/"
2875.      data-ga-track="in_article-body"
2876.      data-ga-track-action="related post embed: venezuela-boat-oil-trump-latin-america"
2877.      data-ga-track-label="venezuela-boat-oil-trump-latin-america"
2878.          >
2879.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/AP25140713197361.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
2880.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
2881.        Related      </h2>
2882.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">The Rift in Trump World Over Venezuela</h3>
2883.    </span>
2884.    </a>
2885.  </div>
2886.  
2887.  
2888.  
2889. <p>The Trump administration added the Venezuelan Cartel de los Soles, or Cartel of the Suns, to a list of specially designated global terrorist groups, alleging that it is headed by Maduro and high-ranking officials in his administration. In July, Trump&nbsp;also&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/us/trump-military-drug-cartels.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">signed a secret directive </a>ordering the Pentagon to use military force against some Latin American drug cartels he<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/02/us/politics/trump-venezuela-boat-drugs-attack.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&nbsp;</a>has<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/02/us/politics/trump-venezuela-boat-drugs-attack.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> labeled terrorist organizations</a>.</p>
2890.  
2891.  
2892.  
2893. <p>Speaking on Fox News, Hegseth did not rule out regime change by the U.S. in Venezuela. “That’s a presidential-level decision and we’re prepared with every asset that the American military has,” he said.</p>
2894.  
2895.  
2896.  
2897. <p>Hegseth and Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine made an unannounced trip to Puerto Rico on Monday. Their visit followed reports that the Pentagon had repositioned 10 F-35 fighter jets to the island amid escalating tensions with Maduro.&nbsp;The aircraft will join around 4,500 U.S. personnel,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-builds-up-forces-caribbean-officials-experts-ask-why-2025-08-29/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">seven U.S. warships</a>&nbsp;and one nuclear-powered attack submarine which are either currently in the Caribbean or are expected to arrive there soon.</p>
2898.  
2899.  
2900.  
2901. <p>Two armed Venezuelan F-16 fighter jets flew over the U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Jason Dunham in the southern Caribbean Sea in a show of force last week. The Pentagon called it a “highly provocative move” that was “designed to interfere with our counter-narco-terror operations” and issued a threat. “The cartel running Venezuela is strongly advised not to pursue any further effort to obstruct, deter or interfere with counternarcotics and counterterrorism operations carried out by the U.S. military,” read the&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/DeptofDefense/status/1963775938233299235" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">statement</a>&nbsp;released on X last Thursday night.</p>
2902.  
2903.  
2904.  
2905. <p>Maduro’s government recently made a <a href="https://presidencia.gob.ve/Site/Web/Principal/paginas/classMostrarEvento3.php?id_evento=30637">formal complaint</a> about “systematic and illegal harassment” by the U.S. to the United Nations.&nbsp;On Sunday, Maduro <a href="https://presidencia.gob.ve/Site/Web/Principal/paginas/classMostrarEvento3.php?id_evento=30627">ordered</a> the deployment of 25,000 soldiers to reinforce rapid reaction forces, including along the country&#8217;s Caribbean coast. This followed the <a href="https://presidencia.gob.ve/Site/Web/Principal/paginas/classMostrarEvento3.php?id_evento=30626">activation</a> of militia and popular forces.</p>
2906.  
2907.  
2908.  
2909. <p>Before the Trump administration ramped up tensions with Venezuela in recent weeks, the Pentagon had already been carrying out numerous <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/02/trump-military-venezuela-drug-boat/">training missions, exercises, and conferences</a> — that have mostly been ignored by the press — with military personnel from across Latin America and the Caribbean. U.S. Southern Command has been busy of late, conducting a series of military exercises and training operations. One Marine Corps operation in Puerto Rico includes the amphibious landing of troops on a beachhead in southern Puerto Rico — precisely the forces necessary for the invasion of a coastal nation.</p>
2910.  
2911.  
2912.  
2913. <p>On Monday, Hegseth visited the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima off the coast of Puerto Rico, which he called “a floating island of American power,” according to a video <a href="https://x.com/DOWResponse/status/1965152057196957935">posted by the Pentagon</a> on X.&nbsp;&#8220;What you&#8217;re doing right now, it&#8217;s not training,&#8221; he told troops on board. &#8220;This is the real-world exercise on behalf of the vital national interests of the United States of America to end the poisoning of the American people.&#8221;</p>
2914. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/10/trump-venezuela-boat-attack-drone/">Rand Paul Reveals Venezuela Boat Attack Was a Drone Strike</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
2915. ]]></content:encoded>
2916.                                <wfw:commentRss>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/10/trump-venezuela-boat-attack-drone/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
2917.                <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
2918.                <media:content url='https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-10-at-3.40.44-PM-e1757533798317.png?fit=2580%2C1290' width='2580' height='1290' /><post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">498656</post-id>
2919. <media:thumbnail url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2221348960_94c72c-e1757705558549.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" />
2920. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2221348960_94c72c-e1757705558549.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
2921. <media:title type="html">US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (R), flanked by US President Donald Trump, speaks at a press conference during the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in The Hague on June 25, 2025. (Photo by JOHN THYS / AFP) (Photo by JOHN THYS/AFP via Getty Images)</media:title>
2922. </media:content>
2923. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2222497571-e1757608186419.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
2924. <media:title type="html">WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 2: Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) walks into the office of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) at the U.S. Capitol Building on July 2, 2025 in Washington, DC. House Republicans began work on final passage of the &#34;One, Big, Beautiful Bill&#34; Act yesterday, less than two hours after the Senate passed its version of President Donald Trump&#039;s signature domestic agenda legislation. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)</media:title>
2925. </media:content>
2926. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/crop-AP25246393159091-e1757703046180.webp?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
2927. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/boatvid1-e1757086018627.png?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
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2929.            </item>
2930.        
2931.            <item>
2932.                <title><![CDATA[Progressives Urge U.S. Arms Embargo After Israel Bombs Qatar]]></title>
2933.                <link>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/09/israel-qatar-doha-bombing-gaza-ceasefire/</link>
2934.                <comments>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/09/israel-qatar-doha-bombing-gaza-ceasefire/#respond</comments>
2935.                <pubDate>Tue, 09 Sep 2025 20:55:10 +0000</pubDate>
2936.                                    <dc:creator><![CDATA[Akela Lacy]]></dc:creator>
2937.                                    <dc:creator><![CDATA[Jessica Washington]]></dc:creator>
2938.                                 <category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
2939. <category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
2940.  
2941.                <guid isPermaLink="false"></guid>
2942.                                    <description><![CDATA[<p>Israel’s bombing of Qatar interrupted ceasefire negotiations in a war made possible by U.S. support.</p>
2943. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/09/israel-qatar-doha-bombing-gaza-ceasefire/">Progressives Urge U.S. Arms Embargo After Israel Bombs Qatar</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
2944. ]]></description>
2945.                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[
2946. <p><span class="has-underline">Israel’s bombing of</span> the Qatari capital Doha on Tuesday marked the sixth country the powerful U.S. ally attacked so far this year. </p>
2947.  
2948.  
2949.  
2950. <p>U.S. and Israeli officials <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2025/09/09/middleeast/qatar-hamas-israel-strike-intl">told CNN</a> and other outlets on Tuesday that Israel — which the U.S. arms to the tune of <a href="https://www.congress.gov/crs_external_products/RL/PDF/RL33222/RL33222.51.pdf">billions of dollars</a> each year<strong> </strong>— gave President Donald Trump’s administration advance warning before carrying out the strike. The attack drew ire from progressive members of Congress, who told The Intercept that the U.S. must stop arming Israel as it accelerates attacks around the globe.</p>
2951.  
2952.  
2953.  
2954.  
2955.  
2956.  
2957.  
2958. <p>“In the past two years, Israel has bombed nation after nation with no repercussions — all while conducting a genocide and manufacturing a famine in Gaza using U.S. taxpayer dollars,” said Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa. “There must be accountability for Israel’s unchecked power and destabilization of the region. The United States must implement an arms embargo immediately.”</p>
2959.  
2960.  
2961.  
2962. <p>Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., said the strikes were “a mistake” that will only intensify the conflict. “I think it’s a mistake to have those strikes. And the president is saying we need to end the war. This is escalating the conflict,” said Khanna.</p>
2963.  
2964.  
2965.  
2966.  <div class="promote-related-post">
2967.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
2968.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/09/israel-attacks-doha-qatar/"
2969.      data-ga-track="in_article-body"
2970.      data-ga-track-action="related post embed: israel-attacks-doha-qatar"
2971.      data-ga-track-label="israel-attacks-doha-qatar"
2972.          >
2973.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2233913056-e1757431421513.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
2974.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
2975.        Related      </h2>
2976.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Israel’s Peace Plan: Assassinate the Ceasefire Negotiators</h3>
2977.    </span>
2978.    </a>
2979.  </div>
2980.  
2981.  
2982.  
2983. <p>Members of Congress also expressed concerns that Israel was intent on expanding its “never-ending war&#8221; at the expense of both the Palestinian people and the remaining Israeli hostages in Hamas custody.&nbsp;</p>
2984.  
2985.  
2986.  
2987. <p>“My concern is that this is a never-ending war, where Israel is targeting more and more countries around the world with impunity,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., “instead of negotiating a ceasefire and getting the hostages home and getting aid to the Palestinians.”</p>
2988.  
2989.  
2990.  
2991. <p>Israel has carried out tens of thousands of attacks in Palestine, <a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/09/25/beirut-hezbollah-israel-bombing-civilians/">Lebanon</a>, Iran, <a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/12/10/israel-syria-golan-heights/">Syria</a>, Yemen, and now Qatar since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks, according to data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project. In the last three days, Israel bombed<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/07/israel-destroys-second-gaza-high-rise-as-military-kills-another-56-palestinians-including-aid-seekers"> three residential buildings</a> in Gaza City and dropped leaflets ordering residents to<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-military-evacuation-order-triggers-panic-gaza-city-2025-09-09/"> evacuate</a>.</p>
2992.  
2993.  
2994.  
2995. <p>Israel said the attacks in Doha on Tuesday targeted leaders of Hamas. <a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/10/09/israel-war-cost/">U.S. military funding </a>and arms make Israel’s offensive attacks possible; <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-09-02/ty-article-magazine/.premium/without-u-s-aid-israel-would-have-struggled-to-fight-in-gaza-beyond-a-few-months/00000191-aec2-d875-a3bb-aed7e2e30000">Without it</a>, the country would not be able to continue its siege on Gaza.</p>
2996.  
2997.  
2998.  
2999.  
3000.  
3001.  
3002.  
3003. <p>Qatar has been mediating the negotiations between Israel and Hamas, alongside Egypt. Hamas <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c78m71vl91vt">officials claimed that their negotiation team</a> was targeted in the strike. On Tuesday, experts <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/09/israel-attacks-doha-qatar/">told</a> The Intercept the attack was “a mockery of international law.”</p>
3004.  
3005.  
3006.  
3007. <p>Qatari officials have called the strike a “blatant violation” of international law.&nbsp;</p>
3008.  
3009.  
3010.  
3011. <p>“The State of Qatar strongly condemns the cowardly Israeli attack that targeted residential buildings housing several members of the Political Bureau of Hamas in the Qatari capital, Doha,&#8221; wrote Majed Al Ansari, a spokesperson for the Qatar Ministry of Foreign Affairs,<a href="https://x.com/majedalansari/status/1965407402607677474"> in a statement on X.</a> “This criminal assault constitutes a blatant violation of all international laws and norms, and poses a serious threat to the security and safety of Qataris and residents in Qatar.” </p>
3012.  
3013.  
3014. <!-- BLOCK(promote-post)[2](%7B%22componentName%22%3A%22PROMOTE_POST%22%2C%22entityType%22%3A%22SHORTCODE%22%2C%22optional%22%3Atrue%7D)(%7B%22slug%22%3A%22israel-palestine%22%2C%22crop%22%3A%22promo%22%7D) -->  <aside class="promote-banner">
3015.    <a class="promote-banner__link" href="https://theintercept.com/collections/israel-palestine/">
3016.              <span class="promote-banner__image">
3017.          <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="150" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?fit=300%2C150" class="attachment-medium size-medium" alt="DEIR AL-BALAH, GAZA - NOVEMBER 7: Civil defense teams and citizens continue search and rescue operations after an airstrike hits the building belonging to the Maslah family during the 32nd day of Israeli attacks in Deir Al-Balah, Gaza on November 7, 2023. (Photo by Ashraf Amra/Anadolu via Getty Images)" srcset="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=5760 5760w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=300 300w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=768 768w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=1536 1536w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=2048 2048w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=540 540w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=1000 1000w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=2400 2400w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=3600 3600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />        </span>
3018.            <div class="promote-banner__text">
3019.                  <p class="promote-banner__eyebrow">
3020.            Read our complete coverage          </p>
3021.        
3022.        <h2 class="promote-banner__title">Israel’s War on Gaza</h2>
3023.      </div>
3024.    </a>
3025.  </aside>
3026. <!-- END-BLOCK(promote-post)[2] -->
3027.  
3028.  
3029.  
3030. <p>While the White House <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/09/white-house-rebukes-israel-for-its-strike-on-qatar-00552850">distanced itself</a> from the attack — with press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying Trump “feels very badly” — some conservatives celebrated it. In a <a href="https://x.com/home">post on X</a>, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., implied that the strikes should extend into Lebanon and Syria, which were both attacked by Israel earlier this year.</p>
3031.  
3032.  
3033.  
3034. <p>“To those who want this war to end: Insist that Hamas surrender now. To my Israeli friends: I understand your determination to ensure there are no more &#8216;October 7&#8217; attacks and that those who want to destroy the Jewish state are denied that capability. I will always be your partner in this endeavor,” Graham wrote. “To Lebanon: Hezbollah is on my mind. To Syria: Choose wisely.” </p>
3035. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/09/israel-qatar-doha-bombing-gaza-ceasefire/">Progressives Urge U.S. Arms Embargo After Israel Bombs Qatar</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
3036. ]]></content:encoded>
3037.                                <wfw:commentRss>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/09/israel-qatar-doha-bombing-gaza-ceasefire/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
3038.                <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
3039.                <media:content url='https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/AP25196848453446-e1757448016955.jpg?fit=8192%2C4096' width='8192' height='4096' /><post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">498618</post-id>
3040. <media:thumbnail url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2221348960_94c72c-e1757705558549.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" />
3041. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2221348960_94c72c-e1757705558549.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
3042. <media:title type="html">US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (R), flanked by US President Donald Trump, speaks at a press conference during the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in The Hague on June 25, 2025. (Photo by JOHN THYS / AFP) (Photo by JOHN THYS/AFP via Getty Images)</media:title>
3043. </media:content>
3044. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2222497571-e1757608186419.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
3045. <media:title type="html">WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 2: Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) walks into the office of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) at the U.S. Capitol Building on July 2, 2025 in Washington, DC. House Republicans began work on final passage of the &#34;One, Big, Beautiful Bill&#34; Act yesterday, less than two hours after the Senate passed its version of President Donald Trump&#039;s signature domestic agenda legislation. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)</media:title>
3046. </media:content>
3047. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/crop-AP25246393159091-e1757703046180.webp?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
3048. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2233913056-e1757431421513.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
3049. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?fit=300%2C150" medium="image">
3050. <media:title type="html">DEIR AL-BALAH, GAZA - NOVEMBER 7: Civil defense teams and citizens continue search and rescue operations after an airstrike hits the building belonging to the Maslah family during the 32nd day of Israeli attacks in Deir Al-Balah, Gaza on November 7, 2023. (Photo by Ashraf Amra/Anadolu via Getty Images)</media:title>
3051. </media:content>
3052.            </item>
3053.        
3054.            <item>
3055.                <title><![CDATA[Israel’s Peace Plan: Assassinate the Ceasefire Negotiators]]></title>
3056.                <link>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/09/israel-attacks-doha-qatar/</link>
3057.                <comments>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/09/israel-attacks-doha-qatar/#respond</comments>
3058.                <pubDate>Tue, 09 Sep 2025 15:49:51 +0000</pubDate>
3059.                                    <dc:creator><![CDATA[Nick Turse]]></dc:creator>
3060.                                 <category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
3061.  
3062.                <guid isPermaLink="false"></guid>
3063.                                    <description><![CDATA[<p>In “a mockery of international law,” per one expert, Israel has bombed the residence of Hamas officials negotiating peace in Doha, Qatar.</p>
3064. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/09/israel-attacks-doha-qatar/">Israel’s Peace Plan: Assassinate the Ceasefire Negotiators</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
3065. ]]></description>
3066.                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[
3067. <p><span class="has-underline">The Israeli military</span>&nbsp;says&nbsp;it has carried out an assassination attempt on top Hamas leaders in Qatar’s capital, Doha, where multiple explosions have been heard.</p>
3068.  
3069.  
3070.  
3071. <p>This appears to undercut Israel’s claims to be earnestly negotiating a ceasefire in the Gaza war with the people it has attempted to assassinate and could mark a further escalation of regional conflict.</p>
3072.  
3073.  
3074.  
3075. <p>“Striking the party you claim to be negotiating a ceasefire with — in the midst of those negotiations — is proof positive that Israel is not negotiating in good faith, and that Prime Minister Netanyahu continues to prioritize his own political coalition over Palestinian lives,&nbsp;or for that matter even the lives of Israeli hostages in Gaza,” said Josh Paul, who spent more than 11 years as the director of congressional and public affairs at the State Department bureau that oversees arms transfers to foreign nations before<a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/10/19/israel-gaza-biden-genocide-war-crimes/"> resigning in 2023</a> over U.S. military assistance to Israel.</p>
3076.  
3077.  
3078.  
3079. <p>“But more than that, striking the sovereign territory of a third country during peacetime is an act of war that makes a mockery of international law, further destabilizes the region, and means the chances of a peaceful Israeli integration into the Middle East are all the more distant,” Paul said.</p>
3080.  
3081.  
3082.  
3083.  
3084.  
3085.  
3086.  
3087. <p>The Qatari foreign ministry said that Israel targeted a residential complex where senior Hamas politicians lived. Qatar agreed to host an office for Hamas at the request of the United States, to facilitate peace talks, Qatari officials have said in the past.</p>
3088.  
3089.  
3090.  
3091. <p>Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office called the attack “a wholly independent Israeli operation” aimed at killing “the top terrorist chieftains of Hamas.” The statement continued: &#8220;Israel initiated it, Israel conducted it, and Israel takes full responsibility.”</p>
3092.  
3093.  
3094.  
3095. <!-- BLOCK(promote-post)[1](%7B%22componentName%22%3A%22PROMOTE_POST%22%2C%22entityType%22%3A%22SHORTCODE%22%2C%22optional%22%3Atrue%7D)(%7B%22slug%22%3A%22israel-palestine%22%2C%22crop%22%3A%22promo%22%7D) -->  <aside class="promote-banner">
3096.    <a class="promote-banner__link" href="https://theintercept.com/collections/israel-palestine/">
3097.              <span class="promote-banner__image">
3098.          <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="150" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?fit=300%2C150" class="attachment-medium size-medium" alt="DEIR AL-BALAH, GAZA - NOVEMBER 7: Civil defense teams and citizens continue search and rescue operations after an airstrike hits the building belonging to the Maslah family during the 32nd day of Israeli attacks in Deir Al-Balah, Gaza on November 7, 2023. (Photo by Ashraf Amra/Anadolu via Getty Images)" srcset="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=5760 5760w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=300 300w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=768 768w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=1536 1536w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=2048 2048w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=540 540w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=1000 1000w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=2400 2400w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=3600 3600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />        </span>
3099.            <div class="promote-banner__text">
3100.                  <p class="promote-banner__eyebrow">
3101.            Read our complete coverage          </p>
3102.        
3103.        <h2 class="promote-banner__title">Israel’s War on Gaza</h2>
3104.      </div>
3105.    </a>
3106.  </aside>
3107. <!-- END-BLOCK(promote-post)[1] -->
3108.  
3109.  
3110.  
3111. <p><span class="has-underline">Qatar had been</span> considered neutral ground and a safe zone for negotiations because Doha has a relationship with the Israeli government. Senior Israeli officials have repeatedly traveled to the Qatari capital for talks with Qatari leaders about securing the release of hostages in Gaza since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel. Israel has since attacked Gaza, <a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/09/23/israel-bombs-lebanon-us-weapons/">Lebanon</a>, <a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/12/10/israel-syria-golan-heights/">Syria</a>, <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/06/14/israel-iran-attack-netanyahu-trump/">Iran</a>, <a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/09/05/yemen-war-houthis-oil-tankers/">Yemen</a>, and now Qatar.</p>
3112.  
3113.  
3114.  
3115. <p>“As we have seen consistently since October 7th, Israel has little hesitation when it comes to expanding its war beyond Gaza — this follows a series of Israeli attacks in Syria, the major strike on the Houthi government in Yemen, continuing strikes on Lebanon even after the ceasefire, and of course the unprecedented campaign on sites in Iran,” said Emily Tripp, the executive director of Airwars, a U.K.-based airstrike monitoring organization.</p>
3116.  
3117.  
3118.  
3119.  <div class="promote-related-post">
3120.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
3121.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/03/19/israel-gaza-ceasefire-hamas/"
3122.      data-ga-track="in_article-body"
3123.      data-ga-track-action="related post embed: israel-gaza-ceasefire-hamas"
3124.      data-ga-track-label="israel-gaza-ceasefire-hamas"
3125.          >
3126.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/crop_AP25077222472691-e1742387260801.jpg-e1742395778902.webp?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
3127.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
3128.        Related      </h2>
3129.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Israel Violated the Gaza Ceasefire From the Start. Why Won’t the Media Tell You That?</h3>
3130.    </span>
3131.    </a>
3132.  </div>
3133.  
3134.  
3135.  
3136. <p>Qatar condemned the attack. An unidentified senior Hamas official told Al Jazeera that the attack occurred while a team was discussing President Donald Trump’s proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza. More than 64,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel in the Gaza Strip, according to local health officials.</p>
3137.  
3138.  
3139.  
3140. <p>Israeli issued an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/09/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-city-evacuation.html">evacuation order</a> for Gaza City on Tuesday, showering Palestinians living in the ruins of their homes with leaflets that said its military was preparing to obliterate the area.</p>
3141.  
3142.  
3143.  
3144. <p>The U.S. Embassy in the Qatari capital <a href="https://qa.usembassy.gov/security-alert-shelter-in-place-for-all-u-s-citizens-due-to-missile-impact-in-doha-qatar/">issued a shelter-in-place alert</a> for all U.S. citizens due to “missile impacts in Doha.”</p>
3145.  
3146.  
3147.  
3148. <p>Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari called the attack a “criminal assault” and a &#8220;blatant violation&#8221; of international law. &#8220;The State of Qatar strongly condemns this attack and affirms that it will not tolerate this reckless Israeli behavior and the continuous tampering with the security of the region and any action aimed at its security and sovereignty,&#8221; he said in a statement.</p>
3149. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/09/israel-attacks-doha-qatar/">Israel’s Peace Plan: Assassinate the Ceasefire Negotiators</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
3150. ]]></content:encoded>
3151.                                <wfw:commentRss>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/09/israel-attacks-doha-qatar/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
3152.                <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
3153.                <media:content url='https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2233913056-e1757431421513.jpg?fit=3195%2C1600' width='3195' height='1600' /><post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">498620</post-id>
3154. <media:thumbnail url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2221348960_94c72c-e1757705558549.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" />
3155. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2221348960_94c72c-e1757705558549.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
3156. <media:title type="html">US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (R), flanked by US President Donald Trump, speaks at a press conference during the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in The Hague on June 25, 2025. (Photo by JOHN THYS / AFP) (Photo by JOHN THYS/AFP via Getty Images)</media:title>
3157. </media:content>
3158. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2222497571-e1757608186419.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
3159. <media:title type="html">WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 2: Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) walks into the office of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) at the U.S. Capitol Building on July 2, 2025 in Washington, DC. House Republicans began work on final passage of the &#34;One, Big, Beautiful Bill&#34; Act yesterday, less than two hours after the Senate passed its version of President Donald Trump&#039;s signature domestic agenda legislation. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)</media:title>
3160. </media:content>
3161. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/crop-AP25246393159091-e1757703046180.webp?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
3162. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?fit=300%2C150" medium="image">
3163. <media:title type="html">DEIR AL-BALAH, GAZA - NOVEMBER 7: Civil defense teams and citizens continue search and rescue operations after an airstrike hits the building belonging to the Maslah family during the 32nd day of Israeli attacks in Deir Al-Balah, Gaza on November 7, 2023. (Photo by Ashraf Amra/Anadolu via Getty Images)</media:title>
3164. </media:content>
3165. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/crop_AP25077222472691-e1742387260801.jpg-e1742395778902.webp?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
3166.            </item>
3167.        
3168.            <item>
3169.                <title><![CDATA[The Rift in Trump World Over Venezuela]]></title>
3170.                <link>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/09/venezuela-boat-oil-trump-latin-america/</link>
3171.                <comments>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/09/venezuela-boat-oil-trump-latin-america/#respond</comments>
3172.                <pubDate>Tue, 09 Sep 2025 13:38:23 +0000</pubDate>
3173.                                    <dc:creator><![CDATA[Greg Grandin]]></dc:creator>
3174.                                 <category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
3175. <category><![CDATA[Voices]]></category>
3176. <category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
3177.  
3178.                <guid isPermaLink="false"></guid>
3179.                                    <description><![CDATA[<p>The Trump administration wants to exert more control over Latin America. Will it come by deal-making or by force?</p>
3180. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/09/venezuela-boat-oil-trump-latin-america/">The Rift in Trump World Over Venezuela</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
3181. ]]></description>
3182.                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[
3183. <figure class="wp-block-ft-photo is-style-default">
3184.    <img decoding="async"
3185.    src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/AP25140713197361.jpg?fit=2351%2C1568"
3186.    srcset="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/AP25140713197361.jpg?w=2351 2351w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/AP25140713197361.jpg?w=300 300w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/AP25140713197361.jpg?w=768 768w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/AP25140713197361.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/AP25140713197361.jpg?w=1536 1536w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/AP25140713197361.jpg?w=2048 2048w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/AP25140713197361.jpg?w=540 540w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/AP25140713197361.jpg?w=1000 1000w"
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3188.    alt="This photo released by Venezuela's presidential press office shows Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, center, with Richard Grenell, President Donald Trump's special envoy, left at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Jan. 31, 2025."
3189.    width="2351"
3190.    height="1568"
3191.    loading="lazy"
3192.  />
3193.      <figcaption class="photo__figcaption">
3194.      <span class="photo__caption">Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, center, with Richard Grenell, Donald Trump&#039;s special envoy, left, at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, on Jan. 31, 2025. </span>&nbsp;<span class="photo__credit">Photo: Venezuela Presidential Press Office via AP</span>    </figcaption>
3195.    </figure>
3196.  
3197.  
3198.  
3199. <p><span class="has-underline">On September 2</span>, President Donald Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump?gsid=ef3f4656-1148-4f91-8c38-f366d22e9775" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">posted</a> a 29-second black-and-white video of a high-prow, four-engine speedboat. At the 20-second mark, there’s a bright flash and fire. Trump claimed the footage was shot that morning, and that it showed the U.S. military destroying the vessel, killing 11 Tren de Aragua members smuggling drugs bound for the United States.</p>
3200.  
3201.  
3202.  
3203. <p>In the week since, little more information about the strike has been made public. No one has disclosed the coordinates where it took place, or any evidence that, as the administration insists, the vessel was carrying drugs and those onboard were smugglers. The administration hasn’t even said what kind of drug was being smuggled. No bodies have been fished out of the sea. No debris.</p>
3204.  
3205.  
3206.  
3207. <p>On Friday, Trump officials <a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/09/05/trump-drug-boat-strike-venezuela-meeting" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">canceled</a>, without explanation, a scheduled briefing with the Senate Intelligence Committee to discuss the attack. When challenged about the legality of the killing, Vice President JD Vance <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/06/vance-drug-strike-venezuela-00548816" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweeted</a> that he didn’t “give a shit.” “Killing cartel members who poison our fellow citizens is the highest and best use of our military,” he said, and more such actions should be expected.</p>
3208.  
3209.  
3210.  
3211. <p>No doubt the assault is par for Trump’s general MO, an expression of his aggrieved nationalism: the idea that the country is besieged by a variety of threats, among them Latin American drug traffickers. According to Pete Hegseth, the secretary of what until recently was the Department of Defense, now the Department of War, the killing was a defensive act against enemies trying “to poison our country with illicit drugs.”</p>
3212.  
3213.  
3214.  
3215. <p>Yet there’s no proof that the 11 people were smugglers or migrants. The kind of go-fast boat shown in the video are called <em>pangas. </em>They can’t carry enough fuel to get to the United States. They are used for smuggling, but also for trading and fishing. It was likely headed to Trinidad, where might have transferred cargo to larger ships bound for the United States.</p>
3216.  
3217.  
3218.  
3219.  <div class="promote-related-post">
3220.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
3221.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/05/pentagon-official-trump-boat-strike-was-a-criminal-attack-on-civilians/"
3222.      data-ga-track="in_article-body"
3223.      data-ga-track-action="related post embed: pentagon-official-trump-boat-strike-was-a-criminal-attack-on-civilians"
3224.      data-ga-track-label="pentagon-official-trump-boat-strike-was-a-criminal-attack-on-civilians"
3225.          >
3226.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/boatvid1-e1757086018627.png?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
3227.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
3228.        Related      </h2>
3229.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Pentagon Official: Trump Boat Strike Was a Criminal Attack on Civilians</h3>
3230.    </span>
3231.    </a>
3232.  </div>
3233.  
3234.  
3235.  
3236. <p>Whether the vessel was carrying cocaine, migrants, or mackerel, our country’s highest officials are boasting about assassinating 11 human beings, civilians, traveling in a small ship in international waters who have not charged with, much less proven guilty of, a crime.</p>
3237.  
3238.  
3239.  
3240. <p>People should be outraged at what is in effect pure murder. But they should also be looking at why the U.S. military is suddenly shifting its focus to the Caribbean, amassing navy vessels and thousands of sailors off the shores and carrying out such a brazen strike. If they look close enough, they might see what the Trump administration is after — and the rift within Trump&#8217;s coalition that might scuttle his Latin American plans.</p>
3241.  
3242.  
3243.  
3244. <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-latin-american-pivot">The Latin American Pivot</h2>
3245.  
3246.  
3247.  
3248. <p>During this fraught geopolitical moment, as Washington hemorrhages global influence, the U.S. bipartisan strategic class is turning, as it often turns during crisis times, to Latin America.</p>
3249.  
3250.  
3251.  
3252. <p>A few years ago, Army Gen. Laura Richardson, as Biden’s head of SOUTHCOM — the branch of the Pentagon charged with policing South America and the Caribbean — gave a series of think-tank talks on the importance of the region’s resources to the United States: “You have heavy crude. You have light sweet crude. You have rare earth elements,” she <a href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMiw3X0yia9/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told</a> the Aspen Security Forum: “You have 31 percent of the world’s freshwater. &#8230; Sixty percent of the world’s lithium is in the lithium triangle: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile. … You have Venezuela’s resources as well, with oil, copper, gold.” </p>
3253.  
3254.  
3255.  
3256. <p>Latin America is “off-the-charts rich” when it comes to resources, the general <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnexDgjACy0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>, and Washington’s “adversaries” — Russia and China — want a cut. Moscow and Beijing had consolidated their influence in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, and were forging alliances with Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and Argentina.  </p>
3257.  
3258.  
3259.  
3260. <p>Richardson said the best way to secure access to the region’s riches was through “engagement” — that is, refraining from using overt forms of dominance and working to shore up soft-power alliances, including commercial treaties. </p>
3261.  
3262.  
3263.  
3264. <p>There are those, a minority to be sure, within the Trump administration who think the same. First among them is Richard Grenell, who has long advocated for normalizing relations with Venezuela. A close friend of the president, Grenell holds the catch-all title of “special envoy for special missions,” allowing him to carry out under-the-table diplomacy. Grenell is an anti-NATO America Firster who believes that a non-conflictive approach to Latin America is the best way the U.S. can ensure access to essential resources in a fracturing world.&nbsp;</p>
3265.  
3266.  
3267.  
3268. <p>So even as the White House was ramping up its rhetoric against Caracas — in effect <a href="https://time.com/7315126/trump-maduro-venezuela-regime-change/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">declaring</a> the entire Venezuelan government a cartel and President Nicolás Maduro its “kingpin” — Grenell scored an important victory, obtaining licenses allowing Chevron to bypass Washington’s harsh sanctions (first imposed by George W. Bush and then strengthened by every president since) to start pumping Venezuelan crude. </p>
3269.  
3270.  
3271.  
3272.  <div class="promote-related-post">
3273.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
3274.            href="https://theintercept.com/2017/08/12/the-battle-for-venezuela-and-its-oil/"
3275.      data-ga-track="in_article-body"
3276.      data-ga-track-action="related post embed: the-battle-for-venezuela-and-its-oil"
3277.      data-ga-track-label="the-battle-for-venezuela-and-its-oil"
3278.          >
3279.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/venezeula-crisis-1502461948.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
3280.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
3281.        Related      </h2>
3282.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">The Battle for Venezuela and Its Oil</h3>
3283.    </span>
3284.    </a>
3285.  </div>
3286.  
3287.  
3288.  
3289. <p>Chevron tankers began delivering Venezuelan oil to Port Arthur, Texas, just weeks before the assault on the speedboat. On September 3, a day after the bombing of the boat, Reuters&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/venezuelas-oil-exports-rise-9-month-high-cargoes-return-us-2025-09-03/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>&nbsp;that Venezuela’s oil exports to the U.S. had risen sharply, oil that otherwise would have been sent to China.</p>
3290.  
3291.  
3292.  
3293. <p>Harry Sargeant III is another within Trump’s circle who shares Grenell’s deal-making approach to Latin America. A Mar-a-Lago billionaire who made a fortune off Pentagon contracts delivering oil to U.S. troops during the Second Gulf War, Sargeant is a major Republican donor. He’s also a confidant of Maduro, and <a href="https://interferencia.cl/articulos/el-cuento-del-lobo-de-eeuu-y-venezuela" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">works</a>, even during the Biden presidency, as a Caracas–Washington go-between. He runs, under special waiver, several lucrative operations in Venezuela, including exporting asphalt. And Trump’s current chief of staff, Susie Wiles, had earlier <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/21/us/politics/susie-wiles-trump-lobbying.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">worked</a> for Ballard Partners, a lobbying firm whose clients included both Trump and Venezuelan businesses tied to Maduro.</p>
3294.  
3295.  
3296.  
3297. <p>For his part, Venezuela’s Maduro, with few close allies of consequence in Latin America apart from those who defend Caracas on the principle of sovereignty, would be happy to make a deal with these profit-seeking elements of the Trump administration.&nbsp;</p>
3298.  
3299.  
3300.  
3301.  
3302.  
3303.  
3304.  
3305. <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-marco-makes-his-move">Marco Makes His Move</h2>
3306.  
3307.  
3308.  
3309. <p>Trump says he gave the order to bomb the speedboat, the most lethal U.S. military operation in Latin America since its 1989 invasion of Panama. Yet the brinkmanship belongs to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. By raising the stakes and promising that such attacks will continue, Rubio is looking to gain hard-liners the upper hand against appeasers like Grenell — especially if the fallout from the executions forces Chevron to shut down its Venezuelan operations.</p>
3310.  
3311.  
3312.  
3313. <p>Rubio had tried to block Chevron’s license from going through, delaying it numerous times.&nbsp;He has&nbsp;<a href="https://archive.is/VXCIO" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">opposed</a>&nbsp;efforts by Sargeant and others in the business lobby to obtain similar exemptions for individual companies, instead&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/americas/trump-oil-migrants-deal-venezuela-maduro-759dc039" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">pushing</a>&nbsp;for a universal ban on U.S. business activity in Venezuela.</p>
3314.  
3315.  
3316.  
3317. <p>Rubio, in earlier electoral campaigns when he ran against Trump, held himself up as the defender of the liberal international order, a champion of NATO and advocate of Ukrainian sovereignty.</p>
3318.  
3319.  
3320.  
3321. <p>Now, he might as well hoist the Jolly Roger over the State Department, as he applauds the piratical murder of civilians traveling in defenseless open boats on the high seas. “It will happen again,” Rubio <a href="https://www.latintimes.com/marco-rubio-says-trump-gave-order-blow-vessel-off-venezuelan-coast-instead-interdicting-it-589149">said</a> menacingly, promising another strike against civilians. </p>
3322.  
3323.  
3324.  
3325.  <div class="promote-related-post">
3326.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
3327.            href="https://theintercept.com/2019/01/30/donald-trump-and-the-yankee-plot-to-overthrow-the-venezuelan-government/"
3328.      data-ga-track="in_article-body"
3329.      data-ga-track-action="related post embed: donald-trump-and-the-yankee-plot-to-overthrow-the-venezuelan-government"
3330.      data-ga-track-label="donald-trump-and-the-yankee-plot-to-overthrow-the-venezuelan-government"
3331.          >
3332.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Donald-Trump-and-the-Yankee-Plot-to-Overthrow-the-Venezuelan-Government-1548816378.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
3333.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
3334.        Related      </h2>
3335.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Donald Trump and the Yankee Plot to Overthrow the Venezuelan Government</h3>
3336.    </span>
3337.    </a>
3338.  </div>
3339.  
3340.  
3341.  
3342. <p>During Trump’s first term, Rubio, as Florida’s senator, worked in league with then-national security adviser John Bolton. The duo was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/26/world/americas/marco-rubio-venezuela.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">largely responsible</a> for the <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/boltons-book-reveals-a-botched-bureaucratic-process-on-venezuela/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">fiasco</a> of pretending that the head of the national assembly, <a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/02/02/venezuela-us-trump-sanctions/">Juan Guaidó</a>, was the real president of Venezuela in a bid to overthrow Maduro. The farce led to a botched mercenary <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/05/venezuela-donald-trump-denies-link-raid-us-citizens" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">invasion</a> and, finally, to the Venezuelan opposition itself <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/venezuelan-opposition-strips-juan-guaido-of-presidential-role" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">stripping</a> Guaidó of his “presidential role.”</p>
3343.  
3344.  
3345.  
3346. <p>That escapade didn’t chastise Rubio, who, apart from whatever statesmanship he once aspired too, can’t escape Florida provincialism. Joan Didion, in her book “Miami<em>,</em>”<em> </em><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=E0DFDgAAQBAJ&amp;pg=PA1910&amp;dq=%22a+kind+of+collective+spell,+an+occult+enchantment%22&amp;hl=en&amp;newbks=1&amp;newbks_redir=0&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjB6PWru8mPAxWDjYkEHeNjK9kQ6AF6BAgHEAM#v=onepage&amp;q=%22a%20kind%20of%20collective%20spell%2C%20an%20occult%20enchantment%22&amp;f=false" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">describes</a> anticommunist Cuban exiles as controlled by “a kind of collective spell, an occult enchantment,” a “febrile complex of resentments and revenges.” Mixed with Trumpism, that enchantment is a powerful propulsive, fueling a desire to vanquish not just left-wing authoritarians in Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua but also squishy social democrats in Brazil and Chile, who <a href="https://globalvoices.org/2025/06/09/what-is-happening-in-gaza-is-a-genocide-brazils-president-lula-da-silva-reinforces-criticism-of-israel-in-south-america/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">criticize</a> Israel and sell their <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/china/us-losing-out-china-soybean-sales-brazil-fills-key-supply-period-2025-08-13/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">soy beans</a> and <a href="https://news.metal.com/newscontent/103466094/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">lithium</a> to China.</p>
3347.  
3348.  
3349.  
3350. <p>Rubio, who like Kissinger years ago serves as both secretary of state and national security adviser, is part of a hard-line interagency war machine that includes Hegseth at the Department of Defense, er, War; CIA Director <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/02/17/trump-cia-mexico-cartels/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">John Ratcliffe</a>; Lt. Col. Michael Jensen, a veteran of special forces, at the National Security Council, and <a href="https://english.elpais.com/usa/2025-02-13/terry-cole-a-latin-american-hawk-nominated-as-new-head-of-the-dea.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Terrance Cole</a> at the Drug Enforcement Administration. Vance seems to function as this group’s cheerleader.</p>
3351.  
3352.  
3353.  
3354. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-right"><blockquote><p>They are all maximalists, looking to fuse the war on drugs with the war on terror.</p></blockquote></figure>
3355.  
3356.  
3357.  
3358. <p>They are all maximalists, looking to fuse the war on drugs with the war on terror — with the goal not to nudge Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela toward more open societies but to bring the hammer down on the continent: sanctions, reaper drones, covert ops, <a href="https://truthout.org/articles/ecuadors-president-emulates-el-salvadors-bukele-as-he-builds-ties-with-trump/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">concentration camps</a>, election manipulation, an expansion of DEA operations, and, as promised, more bombs, more civilian deaths.</p>
3359.  
3360.  
3361.  
3362. <p>“It’s a war. It’s a war on killers. It’s a war on terror,” Rubio&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/9/4/its-a-war-marco-rubio-labels-ecuadorian-cartels-foreign-terrorists" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">says</a>. And the U.S. can use El Salvador and Ecuador, corrupt and repressive narco-states, as launching pads for Rubio’s war.</p>
3363.  
3364.  
3365.  
3366. <p>ExxonMobil has Rubio’s back. Unlike Chevron, Exxon, in 2007, refused to participate in “joint ventures” with Venezuela’s government, then led by the now-deceased Hugo Chávez. In response, Venezuela seized the company’s holdings, leading to more than a decade of litigation.</p>
3367.  
3368.  
3369.  
3370. <p>Today, Exxon and Chevron are antagonists, each vying for control of massive oil reserves off the coast of Guyana, which shares a contested border with Venezuela. The situation echoes the 1930s, when Royal Dutch Shell backed Paraguay and Standard Oil backed Bolivia, pushing the two countries into a brutal war over a vast stretch of scrubland believed to contain a vast underground oil lake. Then, there was no oil: the petroleum that was said to exist was a mirage. Today, though, the petroleum is real. Venezuela alone possesses the largest proven crude reserves in the world, approximately 303 billion barrels — more than Saudi Arabia. Added to that is an estimated 15 billion barrels, light and sweet and easy to pump, in Guyana’s offshore fields. </p>
3371.  
3372.  
3373.  
3374. <p>Considering that the age of oil is not ending any time soon, any reorganization of hemispheric relations would require getting Venezuela in order: but under want terms? Rubio’s call to war or Grenell’s crudepolitik?</p>
3375.  
3376.  
3377.  
3378.  
3379.  
3380.  
3381.  
3382. <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-importing-the-logic-of-gaza">Importing the Logic of Gaza</h2>
3383.  
3384.  
3385.  
3386. <p>Rubio is playing a dangerous game importing the hideous logic of Gaza — unaccountable extrajudicial murder justified by an expansive definition of self-defense — into the Western hemisphere.</p>
3387.  
3388.  
3389.  
3390. <p>A day after the attack,&nbsp;Maduro dispatched two F-16s to fly low over Trump’s warships, which brought a rebuke from Washington.</p>
3391.  
3392.  
3393.  
3394. <p>A conventional war, though, is unlikely. Caracas’ main response has been to try to drive a wedge between Trump and Rubio. “Mr. President Donald Trump, you have to be careful because Marco Rubio wants your hands stained with blood, with South American blood, Caribbean blood, Venezuelan blood,”&nbsp;Maduro&nbsp;<a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/deadly-strike-marks-moment-rubios-long-desire-confront-125280156" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>&nbsp;after the attack, going on to note that he’s opened backchannel negotiations with Grenell to deescalate the conflict. “I respect Trump,” Maduro has said, probably not insincerely.</p>
3395.  
3396.  
3397.  
3398.  <div class="promote-related-post">
3399.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
3400.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/04/22/trump-latin-america-bukele-el-salvador-prison/"
3401.      data-ga-track="in_article-body"
3402.      data-ga-track-action="related post embed: trump-latin-america-bukele-el-salvador-prison"
3403.      data-ga-track-label="trump-latin-america-bukele-el-salvador-prison"
3404.          >
3405.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/GettyImages-2209717212_805b42-e1745292943636.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
3406.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
3407.        Related      </h2>
3408.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">The Long History of Lawlessness in U.S. Policy Toward Latin America</h3>
3409.    </span>
3410.    </a>
3411.  </div>
3412.  
3413.  
3414.  
3415. <p>Trumpism has a <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/03/02/trump-latin-america-new-right/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">social base</a> in Latin America, but there’s little appetite for a full-on ideological crusade. Both Colombia and Mexico suffered badly under previous efforts by the U.S. to use military force in response to narcotic production and trafficking. Politicians across the political spectrum, at least those not openly allied with Rubio such as El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele and Ecuador’s Daniel Noboa, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/nov/13/colombia-juan-santos-war-on-drugs" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">want to end</a><em> </em>not escalate<em> </em>Washington’s half-century war on drugs.</p>
3416.  
3417.  
3418.  
3419. <p>Rubio’s Venezuela play will probably backfire, as it did during Trump’s first term. Trump operates in that middle ground between Rubio and Grenell, talking tough but always signaling that a deal is in the works. And he’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/trump-plays-down-possible-regime-change-venezuela-us-deploys-stealth-fighter-2025-09-05/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">denied</a>&nbsp;that the U.S. wants “regime change” in Venezuela, no matter the fact his Department of Justice has just raised the bounty on Maduro’s head to $50 million.</p>
3420.  
3421.  
3422.  
3423. <p>But the rhetorical momentum is on the side of the maximalists. The Pentagon followed its attack on the speedboat by <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/u-s-sends-10-fighter-jets-to-puerto-rico-for-strikes-against-drug-cartels/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ordering</a> the deployment of 10 F-35 stealth fighter jets to Puerto Rico, to be used to conduct further strikes against alleged cartel activity, on sea and on land, including in Venezuela.</p>
3424.  
3425.  
3426.  
3427. <p>As pressure builds on Trump at home, so will the urge to act abroad, to do something spectacular. The economy is stalling, inflation and unemployment climbing, and the world is de-dollarizing; Trump’s poll numbers are slipping, and Democrats might take the House during the midterms; the ongoing war in Ukraine and genocide in Gaza exposes Washington’s diplomatic feebleness; troops <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/08/trump-chicago-ice-dhs-apocalypse-now/">patrolling </a>city streets and <a href="https://theintercept.com/collections/unmasking-ice/">masked ICE agents</a> invading neighborhoods worsen the country’s polarization.</p>
3428.  
3429.  
3430.  
3431. <p>And so, the temptation to turn the hard-liners loose in Latin America will be difficult to resist. As a distraction. To renew a sense of purpose. To affirm, at least among the faithful, unity. And to get that sweet crude.</p>
3432. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/09/venezuela-boat-oil-trump-latin-america/">The Rift in Trump World Over Venezuela</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
3433. ]]></content:encoded>
3434.                                <wfw:commentRss>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/09/venezuela-boat-oil-trump-latin-america/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
3435.                <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
3436.                <media:content url='https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/AP25140713197361.jpg?fit=2351%2C1568' width='2351' height='1568' /><post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">498574</post-id>
3437. <media:thumbnail url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/AP25140713197361.jpg?fit=2351%2C1568" />
3438. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/AP25140713197361.jpg?fit=2351%2C1568" medium="image">
3439. <media:title type="html">This photo released by Venezuela&#039;s presidential press office shows Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, center, with Richard Grenell, President Donald Trump&#039;s special envoy, left at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Jan. 31, 2025.</media:title>
3440. </media:content>
3441. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/boatvid1-e1757086018627.png?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
3442. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/venezeula-crisis-1502461948.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
3443. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2221348960_94c72c-e1757705558549.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
3444. <media:title type="html">US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (R), flanked by US President Donald Trump, speaks at a press conference during the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in The Hague on June 25, 2025. (Photo by JOHN THYS / AFP) (Photo by JOHN THYS/AFP via Getty Images)</media:title>
3445. </media:content>
3446. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2222497571-e1757608186419.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
3447. <media:title type="html">WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 2: Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) walks into the office of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) at the U.S. Capitol Building on July 2, 2025 in Washington, DC. House Republicans began work on final passage of the &#34;One, Big, Beautiful Bill&#34; Act yesterday, less than two hours after the Senate passed its version of President Donald Trump&#039;s signature domestic agenda legislation. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)</media:title>
3448. </media:content>
3449. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/crop-AP25246393159091-e1757703046180.webp?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
3450. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Donald-Trump-and-the-Yankee-Plot-to-Overthrow-the-Venezuelan-Government-1548816378.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
3451. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/GettyImages-2209717212_805b42-e1745292943636.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
3452.            </item>
3453.        
3454.            <item>
3455.                <title><![CDATA[Trump Escalates Assault on Chicago With “Operation Midway Blitz”]]></title>
3456.                <link>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/08/trump-chicago-ice-dhs-apocalypse-now/</link>
3457.                <comments>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/08/trump-chicago-ice-dhs-apocalypse-now/#respond</comments>
3458.                <pubDate>Mon, 08 Sep 2025 20:37:55 +0000</pubDate>
3459.                                    <dc:creator><![CDATA[Nick Turse]]></dc:creator>
3460.                                 <category><![CDATA[Justice]]></category>
3461. <category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
3462.  
3463.                <guid isPermaLink="false"></guid>
3464.                                    <description><![CDATA[<p>DHS announced a new ICE operation targeting Chicago on Monday, days after President Trump likened his assault on the city to the Vietnam War.</p>
3465. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/08/trump-chicago-ice-dhs-apocalypse-now/">Trump Escalates Assault on Chicago With “Operation Midway Blitz”</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
3466. ]]></description>
3467.                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[
3468. <p><span class="has-underline">The Trump administration</span> said on Monday that it was launching an operation targeting “criminal illegal aliens” in Chicago, dubbed Operation Midway Blitz.</p>
3469.  
3470.  
3471.  
3472. <p>The announcement came two days after President Donald Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115158096026629509">posted</a> an AI-generated image on Truth Social depicting himself as Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore from Francis Ford Coppola&#8217;s 1979 Vietnam War epic <a href="https://youtu.be/k26hmRbDQFw?si=9WrEMKM7qpwODVLe&amp;t=105" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Apocalypse Now</em></a>. In the film, Kilgore – an Air Cavalry Regiment commander who refers to <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078788/characters/nm0000380">Vietnamese people with a number of vile slurs</a> – annihilates a village to secure a beach for surfing. Trump’s AI image was captioned with a riff on the character’s most famous line: “‘I love the smell of deportations in the morning&#8230;’”</p>
3473.  
3474.  
3475.  
3476.  
3477.  
3478.  
3479.  
3480. <p>“Chicago about to find out why it&#8217;s called the Department of WAR,” the president’s post continued. It came a day after Trump signed an <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/09/restoring-the-united-states-department-of-war/">executive order</a> changing the Defense Department’s name to the Department of War.</p>
3481.  
3482.  
3483.  
3484. <p>Following <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-roils-chicago-democrats-apocalypse-now-meme-hinting-national-guard-deployment">backlash</a> to his threat to make war on America’s third largest city, Trump assured Chicagoans that “Only the Criminals will be hurt!” <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115168933967621443">in another post</a>.</p>
3485.  
3486.  
3487.  
3488. <p>That has not reassured Chicago’s elected officials.</p>
3489.  
3490.  
3491.  
3492. <p>“Trump swore an oath to protect the American people and defend the Constitution. Instead, he is declaring war on every American &#8211; including Chicagoans &#8211; who stands against his fascist agenda,” Congressmember Delia Ramirez, D-Ill, told The Intercept. “Attacking American cities and wasting billions of dollars on unlawful activities, while cutting essential services for working families are the tactics of wannabe dictators. Trump has betrayed his Constitutional duties and should be impeached.”</p>
3493.  
3494.  
3495.  
3496.  <div class="promote-related-post">
3497.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
3498.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/03/trump-military-occupy-dc-la-chicago/"
3499.      data-ga-track="in_article-body"
3500.      data-ga-track-action="related post embed: trump-military-occupy-dc-la-chicago"
3501.      data-ga-track-label="trump-military-occupy-dc-la-chicago"
3502.          >
3503.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/9287776-e1756926170232.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
3504.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
3505.        Related      </h2>
3506.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Trump’s Chicago Occupation Could Cost Four Times More Than Housing City Homeless</h3>
3507.    </span>
3508.    </a>
3509.  </div>
3510.  
3511.  
3512.  
3513. <p>Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker shared a “Know Your Rights” pamphlet, which mentions that ICE officers can be asked to present a warrant, <a href="https://x.com/GovPritzker/status/1964413601864942015">on X</a> on Saturday. He encouraged those witnessing arrests to film them and share them with media organizations. “Once Donald Trump gets the citizens of this nation comfortable with the current atrocities committed under the color of law – what comes next?” <a href="https://x.com/GovPritzker/status/1964834567493415387">he asked</a> during a Sunday press conference.</p>
3514.  
3515.  
3516.  
3517. <p>Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill. – a former Blackhawk helicopter pilot for the Illinois Army National Guard who lost her legs and partial use of her right arm in combat in Iraq – also took exception to Trump’s Kilgore post but for different reasons. “Take off that Cavalry hat, you draft dodger. You didn’t earn the right to wear it. Stolen valor at its worst,” she <a href="https://x.com/SenDuckworth/status/1964383827939250494">wrote on X</a>.</p>
3518.  
3519.  
3520.  
3521. <p>On Friday, Duckworth visited Naval Station Great Lakes, which local news outlets have <a href="https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/protestors-rally-march-against-ice-operations-outside-naval-stations-great-lakes/3820498/">reported</a> the Trump administration is using as a base for federal troops in Chicago. Duckworth <a href="https://x.com/SenDuckworth/status/1964019440003002615">wrote on X</a> that Navy personnel answered questions, but that “Trump’s DHS locked the doors and fled.” She continued: “That’s not how you act when you’re doing something legal.”</p>
3522.  
3523.  
3524.  
3525. <p>Experts, including a <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.450934/gov.uscourts.cand.450934.176.0_1.pdf">federal judge</a>, say that the increasing <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/08/12/trump-washington-dc-national-guard-deploy-federalize/">use of military forces</a> in the interior of the U.S. represents an <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/07/22/military-troops-deployed-border-ice/">extraordinary violation</a> of the Posse Comitatus Act, a bedrock 19th-century law fundamental to the democratic tradition that makes it illegal to use American federal troops on domestic soil as a presidential police force.</p>
3526.  
3527.  
3528.  
3529. <p>U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer ruled last week that the Pentagon systematically used armed soldiers to perform police functions in California in violation of Posse Comitatus and planned to do so elsewhere. “President Trump and Secretary Hegseth,” he wrote, “have stated their intention to call National Guard troops into federal service in other cities across the country … thus creating a national police force with the President as its chief.”</p>
3530.  
3531.  
3532.  
3533. <p>Trump has also threatened to deploy National Guard troops to <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/08/20/trump-federalize-washington-dc-military-troops-cost/">Baltimore</a>, <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/08/20/trump-federalize-washington-dc-military-troops-cost/">New York City</a>, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/video/trump-considering-sending-national-guard-to-new-orleans/">New Orleans</a>, and <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/08/20/trump-federalize-washington-dc-military-troops-cost/">Oakland</a>. He thanked himself for turning Washington into a “SAFE ZONE” in a <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115168778764944128">Truth Social post</a> on Monday, adding: “Who’s Next???”</p>
3534.  
3535.  
3536.  
3537. <p>Members of Congress have called out Trump’s tyrannical tactics. </p>
3538.  
3539.  
3540.  
3541. <p>“The founders of this nation understood that an unchecked power to turn the military on the American people poses a grave threat to democracy and individual liberty,” <a href="https://www.durbin.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/durbin-on-trumps-threat-to-deploy-military-to-chicago-dangerous-illegal-and-unconstitutional">said Sen. Dick Durbin</a>, D-Ill. “Trump’s decision to deploy the military in American cities is more fitting for an authoritarian regime than the democracy that our nation’s founding fathers fought for.”</p>
3542.  
3543.  
3544.  
3545.  
3546.  
3547.  
3548.  
3549. <p><span class="has-underline">Last week,</span> <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/03/trump-military-occupy-dc-la-chicago/">The Intercept</a> reported that a U.S. military occupation of Chicago could cost almost <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/08/20/trump-federalize-washington-dc-military-troops-cost/">$1.6 million per day</a>, according to an exclusive expert estimate.</p>
3550.  
3551.  
3552.  
3553. <p>Hanna Homestead of the National Priorities Project, a nonpartisan research group, found that if Trump deployed 3,000 National Guard troops to Chicago it would cost taxpayers around <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/03/trump-military-occupy-dc-la-chicago/">$1,590,000 per day</a>. The figure exceeded the more than <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/08/20/trump-federalize-washington-dc-military-troops-cost/">$1 million</a> daily price tag of Trump’s troop deployment in Washington, D.C., which The Intercept <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/08/20/trump-federalize-washington-dc-military-troops-cost/">reported</a> last month. These runaway expenses connected to Trump’s efforts to turn the U.S. into a genuine <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/08/11/trump-washington-dc-federalization-national-guard-troops/">police state</a> are expected to climb into the hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars.</p>
3554.  
3555.  
3556.  
3557. <p>Pritzker’s office called out the costs. “Governor Pritzker has been loud and clear: sending military into a U.S. city without any local coordination is unconstitutional and un-American,” a spokesperson for the governor told The Intercept, noting that the funds would be better spent on community violence interventions, job training programs, or education. “Instead of undermining our existing public safety efforts with fear campaigns or military troops, the people of Illinois deserve real leadership that delivers real solutions.”</p>
3558.  
3559.  
3560.  
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3562.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
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3569.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
3570.        Related      </h2>
3571.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">The Los Angeles Schoolteacher Leading the Fight Against ICE</h3>
3572.    </span>
3573.    </a>
3574.  </div>
3575.  
3576.  
3577.  
3578. <p>California Gov. Gavin Newsom said last week that the deployment of federal troops to Los Angeles, which began June 7, peaked at around <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/08/12/trump-washington-dc-national-guard-deploy-federalize/">5,500 personnel</a>, and has since dwindled to about <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/03/trump-military-occupy-dc-la-chicago/">300 National Guardsmen</a>, has cost <a href="https://www.gov.ca.gov/2025/09/04/trumps-illegal-national-guard-deployment-in-los-angeles-cost-taxpayers-120-million/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$118 million</a> and amounts to “millions of taxpayer dollars down the drain.” A previous <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/watch-hegseth-says-troops-could-be-in-la-for-60-days-cost-134-million">Pentagon estimate</a> put the cost of the deployment at <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/06/16/la-ice-protests-military-cost/">$134 million</a>.</p>
3579.  
3580.  
3581.  
3582. <p>The White House did not respond to repeated requests for comment on the potential cost of domestic troop deployments running into the hundreds of millions or billions of dollars.</p>
3583. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/08/trump-chicago-ice-dhs-apocalypse-now/">Trump Escalates Assault on Chicago With “Operation Midway Blitz”</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
3584. ]]></content:encoded>
3585.                                <wfw:commentRss>https://theintercept.com/2025/09/08/trump-chicago-ice-dhs-apocalypse-now/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
3586.                <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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3588. <media:thumbnail url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2221348960_94c72c-e1757705558549.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" />
3589. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2221348960_94c72c-e1757705558549.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
3590. <media:title type="html">US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (R), flanked by US President Donald Trump, speaks at a press conference during the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in The Hague on June 25, 2025. (Photo by JOHN THYS / AFP) (Photo by JOHN THYS/AFP via Getty Images)</media:title>
3591. </media:content>
3592. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2222497571-e1757608186419.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
3593. <media:title type="html">WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 2: Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) walks into the office of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) at the U.S. Capitol Building on July 2, 2025 in Washington, DC. House Republicans began work on final passage of the &#34;One, Big, Beautiful Bill&#34; Act yesterday, less than two hours after the Senate passed its version of President Donald Trump&#039;s signature domestic agenda legislation. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)</media:title>
3594. </media:content>
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3601.