(update below) United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Amr announced ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. There was no signed agreement. The ceasefire is essentially “quiet in exchange for quiet,” as one Israeli diplomatic source put it. In the announcement, Clinton reiterated the US’s position that “all rocket attacks must [...]

UPDATE – 12:20 PM EST Reports of ceasefire now – here, here, here and here. UPDATE – 11:45 PM EST Sky News reports Israeli intelligence thinks the Tel Aviv bus bombing was result of a “lone operator” with no ties to any major Palestinian groups. Original Post A bus explosion occurred in Tel Aviv, Israel, [...]

UPDATE – 6:30 PM EST Israel refused to accept the terms proposed by Hamas and Egypt. Israel is now accusing Egypt of wanting Hamas gains. The bombing of Gaza is intensifying again with huge explosions being reported every few minutes. Journalists are being targeted. Women and children are dying. An IDF soldier was hit by [...]

United States State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland has indicated the Obama administration considers Egypt critical to any effort to broker some kind of a truce or ceasefire agreement that would de-escalate violence between Israel and Hamas. However, New York Times journalist David D. Kirkpatrick doubts Egypt’s commitment to Israel and Hamas halting violence. Kirkpatrick summarized: [...]

While it is unlikely that the escalating violence in Gaza will be placed into proper context by United States media, who report on it in the context of Israel’s blockade and occupation of Palestinian land, it is also just as unlikely that there will be any meaningful coverage on how Israel justifies bombing civilian infrastructure [...]

In the aftermath of the assassination of Hamas military chief Ahmad Jabiri, Israel has escalated its attacks on the Gaza Strip. At least 19 people in Gaza have been killed. The Associated Press reported Israeli forces are advancing and closing in on the Gaza border, where they are likely to begin a “ground offensive.” Israeli [...]

President Barack Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). That means hours before 2011 came to an end, as ACLU executive director Anthony Romero stated, President Obama became “a president who will forever be known as the president who signed indefinite detention without charge or trial into law.” “The statute is particularly dangerous because [...]

In what appears to be his first television interview on the subject, Kamran Loghman, the developer of weapons-grade pepper spray and the policy for its use by US police departments, appeared on Democracy Now! to condemn how police forces have been using pepper spray on peaceful protesters in the country. He said he was “shocked” [...]

Mamdouh Habib’s water torture in Egypt reminds us that evidence produced by extreme torture at U.S. rendition sites was used to justify the incarceration of innocent men at Guantanamo. The only effective remedy to that, habeas proceedings in U.S. courts, is legally available, but in recent months, has been mainly gutted.