Jeremy Scahill
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Jeremy Scahill
@jeremyscahill.com
35K followers 670 following 210 posts
Journalist at @DropSiteNews.com. Author of Blackwater and Dirty Wars. Former twitter combatant. Proton: [email protected]
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Israel unleashed a campaign of terror bombing across the Gaza Strip this weekend.
Throughout the weekend, as Palestinians in Gaza observed the Eid al-Fitr holiday that ends the holy month of Ramadan, Israeli forces pummeled areas across the Gaza Strip in what local journalists described as some of the heaviest bombing of the past seventeen months. An airstrike in Khan Younis on Monday left a massive crater where a building once stood. “The massive destruction,” said Abdullah Al Attar, a Palestinian journalist in Gaza, was “caused by the occupation's missiles after targeting Al-Maqdad family's home, full of children and women.” Holding a fragment of a munition, he said in a video posted on social media, “[it] weighs more than 15 kilograms. These are the war missiles which the occupation uses against civilians.” A neighbor who witnessed the attack told Al Attar, “The children were happy for Eid and were sleeping. I didn't hear the strike, and woke up from my sleep to the sound of [the Maqdad] children screaming. I didn't know where I was, and I thought my children and husband were killed.” At least fifty-three Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks on Sunday alone. An Israeli airstrike on displaced people in Khan Younis killed sixteen people, including nine children and three women, according to local medical officials. “They died in their Eid outfits,” a female relative of the victims told Al Jazeera Arabic. “Why did they do this to us?” Among the sites hit were tents housing displaced people. Gruesome images, posted on social media by witnesses, depicted the bodies of bloodied children killed in the attack. They had to be lifted from the shredded ruins of tents and blankets. In Shujaiya, a neighborhood in eastern Gaza City, an airstrike on a family home killed several people, including at least one small child. “We are dying. This is the first day of Eid. This is a child, do you see him?” said a man as he carried the child’s blood-soaked body through the streets.
March 31, 2025 at 2:58 PM
jeremyscahill.com
Amid a total siege and massive bombing, people in Gaza are on the brink of starvation as they search for food, water, and basic goods. Rasha Abou Jalal reports from Gaza City.

“Hunger is crueler than guilt. I didn’t choose this path—it was forced on us."
The suffocating siege has driven people to seek out other unconventional sources of food. After his home was destroyed in the war, Ali Musbah, a young man displaced to a tent near the coast west of Gaza City, recently came upon a sea turtle washed ashore by the waves. Desperation led him to slaughter and eat it. "The turtle weighed about 50 kilograms," Musbah told Drop Site. "I managed to get around 5 to 6 kilograms of meat from it. My wife cooked it like shawarma, and we shared the food with five other starving displaced families." Musbah used to work as a fisherman before the war. "We used to catch fresh fish, shrimp, and squid. Now, we only dream about them,” he said. “With fishing banned and the crossings closed, all we have left are canned foods filled with preservatives that have wrecked our health." "I know the turtle might be an endangered species,” he added. “But hunger is crueler than guilt. I didn’t choose this path—it was forced on us."
March 27, 2025 at 10:18 PM
jeremyscahill.com
This is the letter sent to Columbia University by the Trump Administration demanding it implement directives as a condition to even negotiate federal funding. Clear case of "jawboning" in an effort to crush free speech and academic freedom.
Dear Dr. Armstrong: March 13, 2025 Please consider this a formal response to the current situation on the campus of Columbia University and a follow up to our letter of March 7, 2025, informing you that the United States Government would be pausing or terminating federal funding. Since that date your counsel has asked to discuss “next steps.” U.S. taxpayers invest enormously in U.S. colleges and universities, including Columbia University, and it is the responsibility of the federal government to ensure that all recipients are responsible stewards of federal funds. Columbia University, however, has fundamentally failed to protect American students and faculty from antisemitic violence and harassment in addition to other alleged violations of Title VI and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Pursuant to your request, this letter outlines immediate next steps that we regard as a precondition for formal negotiations regarding Columbia University’s continued financial relationship with the United States government. Please ensure and document compliance with the following no later than the close of business on Wednesday, March 20, 2025: ● Enforce existing disciplinary policies. The University must complete disciplinary proceedings for Hamilton Hall and encampments. Meaningful discipline means expulsion or multi-year suspension. ● Primacy of the president in disciplinary matters. Abolish the University Judicial Board (UJB) and centralize all disciplinary processes under the Office of the President. And empower the Office of the President to suspend or expel students with an appeal process through the Office of the President. ● Time, place, and manner rules. Implement permanent, comprehensive time, place, and manner rules to prevent disruption of teaching, research, and campus life. ● Mask ban. Ban masks that are intended to conceal identity or intimidate others, with exceptions for religious and health reasons. Any masked individual must wear their Columbia ID on the outside of their clothing (this is already the policy at Columbia’s Irving Medical Center). ● Deliver plan to hold all student groups accountable. Recognized student groups and individuals operating as constituent members of, or providing support for, unrecognized groups engaged in violations of University policy must be held accountable through formal investigations, disciplinary proceedings, and expulsion as appropriate. ● Formalize, adopt, and promulgate a definition of antisemitism. President Trump’s Executive Order 13899 uses the IHRA definition. Anti-“Zionist” discrimination against Jews in areas unrelated to Israel or Middle East must be addressed. ● Empower internal law enforcement. The University must ensure that Columbia security has full law enforcement authority, including arrest and removal of agitators who foster an unsafe or hostile work or study environment, or otherwise interfere with classroom instruction or the functioning of the university. ● MESAAS Department – Academic Receivership. Begin the process of placing the Middle East, South Asian, and African Studies department under academic receivership for a minimum of five years. The University must provide a full plan, with date certain deliverables, by the March 20, 2025, deadline. ● Deliver a plan for comprehensive admissions reform. The plan must include a strategy to reform undergraduate admissions, international recruiting, and graduate admissions practices to conform with federal law and policy. We expect your immediate compl…
March 20, 2025 at 12:26 PM
jeremyscahill.com
Latest statistics on the Israeli attacks of the past 2 days in Gaza:

⭕️183 children killed.

⭕️94 women killed.

⭕️436 people total confirmed killed.

⭕️678 people wounded.

The Health Ministry in Gaza released the graphic below:
March 19, 2025 at 11:59 AM
jeremyscahill.com
I read the words of our Palestinian colleague Rasha Abou Jalal from Gaza and I feel such shame that the world is allowing this to happen; that the U.S., under Democrats and Republicans, facilitates this campaign of terror.

Read Rasha’s full report 🔽
www.dropsitenews.com/p/palestinia...
The airstrikes last night killed more than 400 Palestinians, including 174 children, 89 women, and 32 elderly people. We’re still in shock. My eight-year-old daughter can no longer sleep. I tried to comfort her, to help her sleep, but she kept waking up crying. She told me, “Mama, every time I close my eyes, I feel like another bomb is falling on us.” I lay beside her to soothe her. This morning, I discovered she had wet herself in fear. My 12-year-old, Saida, keeps asking me, “Mama, will the planes come back again?” I have no answer for her. How can I reassure her when I no longer believe I will wake up tomorrow? I looked into my husband’s weary, burdened eyes and asked him, “When will this nightmare end?” He replied, “We are alone in this world. No one cares.”
March 18, 2025 at 9:20 PM
jeremyscahill.com
This is quite a statistic:

The U.S. Navy has used more missiles for "air defense" since combat operations against the Houthi naval blockade in the Red Sea off the Yemeni coast began in October 2023 than it used in all years since Operation Desert Storm in the 1990s.
March 17, 2025 at 12:07 PM
jeremyscahill.com
"Sixty-five year-old Kareemeh, was one of the few elderly residents that took that risk to check on her home.... She said she was planning to grab a few things–documents and IDs, as well as some clothes for her mother, who was struggling in the winter cold."
The moment Kareemeh walked into what remained of her home in the eastern part of the camp, she stood petrified. The windows had all been shattered—likely due to the airstrikes and demolitions, which left nearby buildings completely destroyed—and glass was all over the floor. The furniture was ransacked, the kitchen wrecked, and clothes had been pulled from the closet and tossed across the floor. With only minutes to finish the task and leave the camp, Kareemeh began collecting canned foods and putting them in plastic bags. But as she sifted through the debris, she quickly forgot what she was doing and became fixated on the carpets. “Come here, you. Help me pull the carpets away from the windows so the rain doesn’t ruin them,” she told me. Distraught, she pulled at the carpets, glass cutting through her hands. It took a while to calm her and help her focus on gathering necessities so we could leave the camp quickly as the looming threat from Israeli snipers was growing. In the end, she took a few papers, undershirts and headscarves, and managed to grab cans of beans and sardines. Her hand bleeding, she carried what she could. “Just let me lock my house door,” she said as she left—a final gesture to retain some semblance of a home where she hoped one day to return.
March 6, 2025 at 6:13 PM
jeremyscahill.com
Trump's morning rant on Truth Social includes this threat against allowing "illegal protests" on college campuses in the US. Trump signs off: "Thank you for your attention to this matter."
Trump's post reads: All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests. Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came. American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on on the crime, arrested. NO MASKS! Thank you for your attention to this matter.
March 4, 2025 at 12:57 PM
jeremyscahill.com
⚡️Five Israel military reservists have been indicted for the torture of a Palestinian held at Sde Teiman prison. Read the description of their actions from the Israeli indictment and remember the riots staged by Israelis supporting the soldiers who raped the Palestinian man. 🔽
As the soldiers searched the detainee, the other reservists stood around him to create a barrier between them and the other detainees in the facility. The indictment said that at that moment, two of the accused held the detainee up against the wall by his shackled hands, then dropped him to the ground. “For 15 minutes, the accused kicked the detainee, stomped on him, stood on his body, hit him and pushed him all over his body, including with clubs, dragged his body along the ground, and used a taser gun on him, including on his head,” the indictment alleged. During the assault, the blindfold came off the detainee, and moments later one of the soldiers “stabbed the detainee in his buttock with a sharp object” close to his anus, which caused an internal tear in his rectal wall. The indictment said the detainee cried in pain during the assault. The reservists then took the detainee back to his mattress, hiding his bleeding using his shirt. Only an hour later after the detainee complained about difficulty breathing and a headache, detention facility officials noticed that he was bleeding heavily, and he was taken to a hospital. The detainee suffered multiple traumatic wounds as a result of the beating, including seven broken ribs, a punctured lung, a tear in his rectum, and injuries all over his body, the indictment said.
February 19, 2025 at 12:42 PM
jeremyscahill.com
Nine paragraphs into today's NYT story on the situation with the Gaza ceasefire, readers are informed that Israeli officials and international mediators "said that Hamas’s claims were accurate."
NYT: "The current standoff stems in part from Hamas’s accusation that Israel has failed to uphold its promises for the first phase of the cease-fire — a six-week period that started on Jan. 19. Under the terms of the deal, Israel was required to send hundreds of thousands of tents into Gaza, among other humanitarian supplies, a promise that Hamas says Israel has not kept. "Speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter, three Israeli officials and two mediators said that Hamas’s claims were accurate."
February 11, 2025 at 1:36 PM
jeremyscahill.com
You may remember when former Israeli soldiers-turned-Columbia-students sprayed pro-Palestine activists with what was described as a chemical agent last Spring. One of the IDF vets was paid a $395,000 settlement by Columbia and had his suspension lifted. Yes, you read that right.
This isn’t the first lawsuit Columbia has faced in relation to its handling of student actions over Israel’s war on Gaza. In January 2024 at a protest against the war, two counter protesters arrived and sprayed pro-Palestine protesters with what many described as a chemical agent. The two students, who had both served in the Israeli military, would later say the spray was a “gag” bought on Amazon. Curran-Groome and Parisi were among those at the event who were sprayed. Many of those who attended, including Curran-Groome, reported and were treated for symptoms including nausea, burning eyes and headaches. Columbia suspended both of the pro-Israel students in May, but Curran-Groome said that this was only done after pressure from the students who were attacked. “It was actually students who combed through video footage, found evidence of these two guys spraying these canisters,” she said. “It was a fully student-led investigation that actually uncovered the perpetrators of the attack. And then Columbia offered us no support whatsoever.” Due to the interim suspension in April, Curran-Groome lost access to healthcare she had been utilizing specifically for medical symptoms from the January attack. In the spring, one of the two pro-Israel students filed a lawsuit against the university, claiming that his disciplinary process was biased. He also stated that he used the spray “as a harmless expression of speech.” Columbia eventually settled with him this past fall, awarding him $395,000 and lifting his suspension. “I think that was the strongest and, quite frankly, the first example in which it was so blatant that Columbia failed to protect us,” Parisi said. “And not only failed to protect us, but rewarded those who sent almost 15 people to the hospital.”
February 3, 2025 at 2:35 PM
jeremyscahill.com
🚨Joe Biden commuted the sentence of Native American political prisoner Leonard Peltier, but no pardon.
January 20, 2025 at 4:49 PM
jeremyscahill.com
Reporting from northern Gaza, Hossam Shabat describes how people are desperate for any shelter from the cold and rain and are sleeping in buildings weakened by relentless Israeli airstrikes.

Those buildings are turning into mass graves.

🔽 @dropsitenews.com

www.dropsitenews.com/p/in-norther...
With no place to go and with the onset of winter cold and rain, displaced families are increasingly seeking refuge in severely damaged buildings and bombed out homes in a desperate bid for shelter, only for the structures to eventually collapse on them, turning homes into mass graves of concrete rubble. The Abu al-Omrin family was just one stark example. “When the walls of the house collapsed on us, the sound of the children's screams haunted us,” said the 18-year-old survivor. “We couldn’t save anyone because everything was piled on top of us.” They chose to live under an unstable roof and cracked walls, he said, because there was no safer alternative. This phenomenon has become so widespread, with the harsher winter weather causing more building collapses, that it recently prompted the Civil Defense authority to issue a statement warning people to stay away from unsafe structures.
December 12, 2024 at 9:09 PM
jeremyscahill.com
🚨 U.S. Nonprofit Raised $300,000 for Israeli Sniper Unit Associated With Killings of Unarmed Palestinians

“Your support allowed us to get my son and his elite sniper unit the most advanced scopes needed.”

Story by @samivanderlip.com for @dropsitenews.com ⬇️

www.dropsitenews.com/p/us-nonprof...
A U.S. nonprofit has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for an Israeli sniper unit for the stated purpose of buying scopes, silencers, and other equipment. The unit, which is nicknamed Rephaim, or “Ghosts,” has since been implicated in possible war crimes and killing over 100 people in Gaza and has been tied to the killing of four unarmed Palestinians in Gaza since October 7, 2023. On October 9, 2023, the mother of unit member Daniel Raab—an Illinois native—posted on Facebook that the nonprofit, registered as “Friends of Paratrooper Sniper Unit 202,” was in need of “helmets, rain gear, barrels, vests, sniper stands, silencers, camouflage, and the list goes on.” In its 990 filings, Friends of Paratrooper Sniper Unit 202 is described as “an organization dedicated to catering to the additional requirements and the overall welfare of soldiers serving in a specific military unit.” The description continues to say that the primary focus of the nonprofit is, “to ensure that soldiers have access to the necessary resources, support systems, and amenities that can enhance their comfort, safety, and well-being while they are actively serving their duty.” The charity has raised significant amounts of money for the sniper unit since its establishment last year. According to its tax filings, Friends of Paratrooper Sniper Unit 202 raised over $304,000 in the year ending December 2023, of which it spent roughly $208,000 in grants—money which its promoters emphasize goes directly to soldiers in the unit.
December 11, 2024 at 3:38 PM
jeremyscahill.com
David Ignatius in the Washington Post: "Ukrainian intelligence sent about 20 experienced drone operators and about 150 first-person-view drones to the rebel headquarters in Idlib, Syria, four to five weeks ago to help Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)."

archive.ph/O4MVG#select...
Ukrainian intelligence sent about 20 experienced drone operators and about 150 first-person-view drones to the rebel headquarters in Idlib, Syria, four to five weeks ago to help Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the leading rebel group based there, the knowledgeable sources said. The aid from Kyiv played only a modest role in overthrowing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Western intelligence sources believe. But it was notable as part of a broader Ukrainian effort to strike covertly at Russian operations in the Middle East, Africa and inside Russia itself. Ukraine’s covert assistance program in Syria has been an open secret, though senior Biden administration officials said repeatedly in answer to my questions that they weren’t aware of it. Ukraine’s motivation is obvious: Facing a Russian onslaught inside their country, Ukrainian intelligence has looked for other fronts where it can bloody Russia’s nose and undermine its clients.
December 11, 2024 at 1:46 PM
jeremyscahill.com
POLITICO: There’s a “furious debate” in DC “over what to make of HTS” in Syria. The story quotes a US official addressing the group’s official designation as a terror organization: “There is a huge scramble to see if, and how, and when we can delist HTS.”
But HTS, led by ABU MOHAMMED AL-GOLANI, is also a U.S.-designated terror organization. Al-Golani was linked with al Qaeda for years, but cut ties with al Qaeda and denounced the group in 2016. Since then, he’s been on a campaign to rebrand himself and HTS, the umbrella organization of formerly fractured militant groups, as a moderate force to oppose Assad. There’s a furious debate playing out in Washington over what to make of HTS, according to four current and former U.S. officials familiar with the discussions, all of whom were granted anonymity to discuss internal policy deliberations. “There is a huge scramble to see if, and how, and when we can delist HTS,” said one of the current officials.
December 9, 2024 at 9:17 PM
jeremyscahill.com
Palestinian Islamic Jihad also released a statement on Syria, saying it "views the changes that have occurred in Syria as an internal Syrian matter" and "hopes that Syria will continue to be a true supporter and ally of the Palestinian people and their just cause, as it has always been."
Statement on Syria from the General Secretary of Palestinian Islamic Jihad: “In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful The Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine views the changes that have occurred in Syria as an internal Syrian matter, pertaining to the choices of the brotherly Syrian people. The Movement hopes that Syria will continue to be a true supporter and ally of the Palestinian people and their just cause, as it has always been. Secretary-General of the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine, Ziyad Al-Nakhaleh”
December 9, 2024 at 2:40 PM
jeremyscahill.com
JUST IN: Hamas releases a statement on the events in Syria, saying it "congratulates the brotherly Syrian people on their success in achieving their aspirations for freedom and justice" and condemning "the repeated brutal aggression by the Zionist occupation against Syrian territories." ⬇️
“In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful The Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, congratulates the brotherly Syrian people on their success in achieving their aspirations for freedom and justice. We call on all components of the Syrian people to unite, enhance national cohesion, and rise above the pains of the past. We, in Hamas and alongside the Palestinian people, strongly stand with the great Syrian people. We reaffirm our commitment to Syria’s unity, the integrity of its territories, and respect for the Syrian people’s will, independence, and political choices. The brotherly Syrian people, with all its diversity, national unity, and spirit of brotherhood and tolerance, is capable—by the will of Allah—of overcoming all challenges and navigating through this critical phase to achieve prosperity, development, security, stability, and growth for Syria and its dear people. We also emphasize the importance of Syria continuing its historical and pivotal role in supporting the Palestinian people and their resistance to achieve the goals of their just cause, while solidifying Syria’s leadership role on the Arab and Islamic fronts as well as regionally and internationally. Hamas strongly condemns the repeated brutal aggression by the Zionist occupation against Syrian territories and firmly rejects any Zionist ambitions or schemes targeting brotherly Syria—its land and its people. May Allah protect Syria, Palestine, and the entire nation from all harm."
December 9, 2024 at 2:38 PM
jeremyscahill.com
The Israeli cabinet has approved a further invasion of Syrian territory and Israel has been conducting “very intensive” air strikes in Syria.
December 8, 2024 at 6:52 PM
jeremyscahill.com
Russian Foreign Ministry statement: Assad "decided to leave the presidential post and left the country, giving instructions to transfer power peacefully. Russia did not participate in these negotiations."
December 8, 2024 at 12:14 PM
jeremyscahill.com
This is just an unspeakable horror.
December 5, 2024 at 10:12 PM
jeremyscahill.com
Unrepentant war monger neocon David Frum predicts he'll be canceled by MSNBC's Morning Joe for things he said about Pete Hegseth. Being a career armchair hawk advocating for other peoples' kids to fight and die in wars was ok, but apparently this was a bridge too far.
December 5, 2024 at 3:23 PM
jeremyscahill.com
NEW: Hamas responds to Trump threat that there will be “ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East” if the Israeli hostages are not released before Trump’s inauguration. Hamas accuses Israel of sabotaging deals to release captives, says Trump should direct his message "towards Netanyahu and his government."
Statement from Basem Naim of Hamas political bureau: 1. Since the beginning of this genocide, Hamas has publicly announced and been active in seeking a permanent ceasefire to end the Israeli aggression against our people; a deal which would have included a full prisoners' exchange. 2. However, Netanyahu has sabotaged all these attempts. At many times, we were extremely close to signing on a deal, but due to his savage actions and decisions, these deals broke down. 3. Therefore, Hamas understands that Trump's message is actually directed first towards Netanyahu and his government. They need to end their evil game by using negotiations as a cover for their personal political ideological interests. 4. Hamas is committed to immediately implementing the Security Council Resolution 2735, and the deal struck on July 2, 2024. 5. We are looking forward to the daytime seeing an end of this genocide against our people, their free return back to their homes all over the Gaza Strip, and prisoners from both sides freed and enjoying living amongst their families again. 6- Our people are eager to secure a better future for their children, full of hope, dignity and prosperity.
December 3, 2024 at 11:12 AM
jeremyscahill.com
Both Netanyahu and Biden emphasized that the "ceasefire" was conditioned on the principle that Israel would not be bound by the same rules as Lebanon. And the State Dept. refused to confirm or deny the existence of a "side letter" the U.S. allegedly gave Israel
While Israel had demanded the right to attack if it deems Hezbollah violated the agreement, that was rejected by Lebanese officials and is not written into the terms of the deal. Instead, the Biden administration agreed to provide Israel with a letter of guarantee, “recognizing Israeli freedom of action on Lebanese soil, in the event of any attempt to strengthen Hezbollah or another hostile entity there,” according to Haaretz. Israel’s Channel 12 reported that the “side letter” also says the U.S. will share intelligence with Israel on potential violations of the agreement, including attempts by Hezbollah to infiltrate the Lebanese Army, and will work with Israel to prevent Iran from delivering arms to Hezbollah. In an email to Drop Site, Vedant Patel, a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, refused to directly comment on the contents of the alleged letter or even its existence.
November 27, 2024 at 11:24 PM
jeremyscahill.com
Amidst talk of some sort of a imminent ceasefire/cessation agreement in Lebanon, Israel is unleashing massive attacks, including fire belt strikes in Dahiya, southern Beirut.
November 26, 2024 at 2:03 PM