Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Dylan Williams @dylanwilliams.bsky.social · 8h

“A Rutgers University professor who taught a course on anti-fascism was blocked from leaving the US for Spain on Wednesday night… The professor, nicknamed ‘Dr Antifa’ by a group of students, had said he was moving to Europe after receiving death threats.”

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

US anti-fascism expert blocked from flying to Spain at airport

Rutgers University professor who published book on antifa was informed at boarding gate that his trip was cancelled

www.theguardian.com

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Dylan Williams @dylanwilliams.bsky.social · 10h

US pressure must be sustained in order for the Gaza ceasefire to endure and proceed past its first phase.

We cannot forget that the last seven months of starvation and slaughter began as Netanyahu refused to move beyond the first phase of the previous ceasefire.

@cipolicy.bsky.social’s statement:

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Dylan Williams @dylanwilliams.bsky.social · 1d

As Trump slashes vital federal programs and builds a ballroom while working Americans struggle to pay bills, he’s claiming unfettered power to start new wars of choice in Latin America that will cost billions.

Polls show Americans don’t want to fund or fight a war in Venezuela.

Call your Senators.

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Dylan Williams @dylanwilliams.bsky.social · 1d

Senators will vote today on whether to block Trump’s use of US Armed Forces to attack vessels in the Caribbean.

Trump may soon expand these illegal attacks into a full-on war with Venezuela.

Call your Senators and ask them to vote for the Schiff-Kaine resolution.

Capitol switchboard: 202-224-3121

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Dylan Williams @dylanwilliams.bsky.social · 1d

“Starving children screaming for food as US aid cuts unleash devastation and death across Myanmar”

A report on some of the first children to starve to death of the millions who will die from Trump’s aid cuts—and how Secretary of State Rubio lied to Congress about it:

apnews.com/article/myan...

Starving children screaming for food as US aid cuts unleash devastation and death across Myanmar

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has repeatedly said “no one has died" because of his government’s decision to gut its foreign aid program.

apnews.com

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Dylan Williams @dylanwilliams.bsky.social · 3d

Mallory McMorrow: “I’m not accepting AIPAC support. I’m not seeking their endorsement. I’ve never accepted their support. And what we are seeing in the Middle East is a moral abomination.”

Asked if it was a genocide, she responded: “based on the definition, yes.”

www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

Michigan’s Mallory McMorrow has shifted her stance on the war in Gaza

Mallory McMorrow has shifted her position on the ongoing Middle East conflict.

www.politico.com

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Dylan Williams @dylanwilliams.bsky.social · 3d

Recommendation #3: Focus diplomacy toward a just resolution of the underlying conflict on multilateral rather than bilateral normalization efforts.

Recommendation #4: Take meaningful anti-occupation, anti-annexation steps.

Recommendation #5: Recalibrate the US-Israel relationship.

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Dylan Williams @dylanwilliams.bsky.social · 3d

The memo’s five recommendations are:

Recommendation #1: Trump should use all US leverage to ensure the finalization of a permanent ceasefire and both parties’ sustained adherence to it.

Recommendation #2: Empower rather than undermine Palestinian leaders who seek a just peace with Israel.

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Dylan Williams @dylanwilliams.bsky.social · 3d

This week marks two years since the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

A new @cipolicy.bsky.social memo sets out recommendations for permanently ending the Gaza war that followed & ensuring the long term security, rights & well-being of Israelis & Palestinians:

internationalpolicy.org/wp-content/u...

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Dylan Williams @dylanwilliams.bsky.social · 5d

NEW: “Many American Jews sharply disapprove of Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza, with 61 percent saying Israel has committed war crimes and about 4 in 10 saying the country is guilty of genocide against the Palestinians” per a new @washingtonpost.com poll.

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Many American Jews sharply critical of Israel on Gaza, Post poll finds

Most Jews say Israel is committing war crimes — and 39 percent say genocide — while often distinguishing between the country and its leadership.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Dylan Williams @dylanwilliams.bsky.social · 6d

“AIPAC is becoming an increasingly toxic brand for some Democrats on Capitol Hill”

“Democrats who once counted AIPAC among their top donors have in recent weeks refused to take the group’s donations”

All as polls show “American support for Israel is crumbling”

NYT: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/u...

Democrats Pull Away From AIPAC, Reflecting a Broader Shift

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Dylan Williams

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez @ocasio-cortez.house.gov · 7d

I am sickened by today’s attack in Manchester. Antisemitism is on the rise around the world, and we must do all we can to stomp it out. I am grateful to first responders and congregants who showed incredible bravery, and I am praying for those who were killed.

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Reposted by Dylan Williams

Brian Finucane @bcfinucane.bsky.social · 7d

And yet at the same time the Trump administration is citing the threat of illegal drugs to justify premeditated killings in the Caribbean.

Reuters @reuters.com · 7d

The Justice Department eliminated 275 positions and shuttered its Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces. The restructuring affects 140 federal employees through elimination or reassignment, marking the largest DOJ reorganization in two decades reut.rs/4nxYuUg

Exclusive: US scraps Justice Department task force that took on cartels, documents show

The U.S. Justice Department is closing a task force that took on drug cartels and an office that aimed to ease racial tensions, in a reorganization that drops a plan to merge the nation's top drug and gun law enforcement agencies, documents seen by Reuters show.

reut.rs

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Dylan Williams @dylanwilliams.bsky.social · 7d

“AIPAC is becoming an increasingly toxic brand for some Democrats”

“Three Democratic members of Congress who had previously relied on AIPAC as a top campaign contributor have said over the past few weeks that they would no longer accept donations from the group”

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/u...

Democrats Pull Away From AIPAC, Reflecting a Broader Shift

www.nytimes.com

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Dylan Williams @dylanwilliams.bsky.social · 8d

I told Middle East Eye that Trump’s Gaza plan is the same old US play “to cook up a plan with Israel and then present it to the Palestinians as a fait accompli… counterproposals by a Palestinian party are immediately characterised as rejection, obstructionism.”

www.middleeasteye.net/news/colonia...

'Colonial thinking': The pitfalls of Trump's 20-point Gaza plan

Arab and Muslim nations welcomed US 'efforts' but have been shocked and angered by a reportedly rewritten peace plan

www.middleeasteye.net

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Dylan Williams @dylanwilliams.bsky.social · 9d

“The deal now before Hamas is significantly different than the one the US and a group of Arab and Muslim countries had previously agreed on, due to Netanyahu's intervention.”

“Israeli forces will still remain within a security perimeter inside Gaza” possibly “indefinitely.”

So endless occupation.

Axios @axios.com · 9d

NEW: The Gaza peace plan President Trump presented yesterday contained significant changes requested by Benjamin Netanyahu, infuriating Arab officials involved in the negotiations, sources familiar with the process tell Axios.

The scramble to shape Trump's Gaza plan is just heating up

The plan Trump presented had significant Netanyahu edits, infuriating Arab officials.

www.axios.com

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Dylan Williams @dylanwilliams.bsky.social · 9d

Trump keeps saying “all of the Arab nations, Muslim nations have agreed” to his Gaza plan, but they have not.

The statement by key Muslim countries welcomes his “efforts” but avoids accepting the plan as written, while—rightly in my view—reiterating positions incompatible with some of its terms.

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Dylan Williams @dylanwilliams.bsky.social · 9d

As a country, we may never overcome the reputational damage of allowing a plainly insane person to occupy the position of Commander in Chief.

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Dylan Williams @dylanwilliams.bsky.social · 9d

So, purges.

Reuters @reuters.com · 9d

Trump says he will fire U.S. military leaders if he doesn't like them reut.rs/46sJuB8

Trump says he will fire U.S. military leaders if he doesn't like them

President Donald Trump said he would meet with top U.S. military leaders on Tuesday and that he would fire any of them on the spot if he didn't like them.

reut.rs

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Reposted by Dylan Williams

Brian Finucane @bcfinucane.bsky.social · 9d

These remarks follow the U.S. military’s lawless premeditated killing of people aboard boats in the Caribbean.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 9d

Hegseth: "We unleash overwhelming and punishing violence on the enemy. We also don't fight with stupid rules of engagement. We untie the hands of our warfighters to intimidate, demoralize, hunt, and kill the enemies of our country. No more politically correct and overbearing rules of engagement."

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Dylan Williams @dylanwilliams.bsky.social · 10d

And now Turkey — three NATO forces so far.

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Dylan Williams @dylanwilliams.bsky.social · 10d

Ahead of today’s Trump-Netanyahu White House meeting:

• 50% of US voters now say Israel is committing genocide in Gaza

• Only 47% see backing Israel as a US interest, down from 69% in 2023

• 60% oppose more military aid to Israel

• 58% favor recognizing Palestine

www.haaretz.com/us-news/2025...

Support for Israel in U.S. drops sharply, Netanyahu unpopular, new poll shows

Quinnipiac Survey Finds Only 47% of Americans See Backing Israel as a U.S. Interest, Down From 69% in 2023. Half of Voters Believe Israel Is Committing Genocide in Gaza, While Just 31% Approve of Trum...

www.haaretz.com

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Dylan Williams @dylanwilliams.bsky.social · 12d

The dumbest timeline.

www.wsj.com/world/middle...

Trump Plan Backs Tony Blair as Postwar Gaza Leader

Under a White House plan that is being proposed to Arab and Israeli leaders, the former British prime minister would serve as interim administrator of Gaza, overseeing a body known as the Gaza Interna...

www.wsj.com

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Reposted by Dylan Williams

Center for International Policy @cipolicy.bsky.social · 13d

🚨NEW STATEMENT by @nancyokail.bsky.social in response to President Trump’s issuance of a Presidential Memorandum targeting U.S. civil society organizations under the guise of countering domestic terrorism and political violence:

internationalpolicy.org/publications...

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Dylan Williams @dylanwilliams.bsky.social · 13d

Note: The final figure is from a Reuters/Ipsos poll cited in the article.

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