What’s Brewing?

Things got real ugly when a video of a man attacking a halal cart vendor went viral. Halal cart food vendors are usually doing their thing, so harassment is, for lack of better terms, unwarranted. Turns out, the man hurling the abuse and racist speech is no ordinary man. He is Stuart Seldowitz, a former White House Advisor, NSA Chief and Senior Political Officer in the US State Department's Office of Israel and Palestinian Affairs. 

This is what makes most people do the double take; we always knew how terrible US foreign policy has been towards Muslim countries abroad, but it was terrifying to hear how deep the hate runs from a person who actually ran things himself. What's worse, the man was in charge of the entire Israel-Palestine department in the United States which means he helped make the policies we see today. He also inadvertently revealed methods of torture used on Muslims such as the removal of finger nails, and flaunted his power by “calling” his “friends” in the Mukhabarat suggesting that US intelligence work hand in hand together.

On Thursday, November 23, Seldowitz was arrested on hate charges, smiling at the cameras as he was whisked away in handcuffs. Perhaps, what's most chilling about this scenario is that while the charges were much called for, we can't help but wonder if he was put away for an entirely different reason: exposing the state further ovef its inhumane policy in a very sensitive time.

What to Look Out For

Need to relax? Or need to understand the war from a personal perspective? Why not do both. The Blue Sofa Talks just went up this week featuring a Palestinian American woman Huda who sheds light on living with guilt and struggling mentally through this war.

Our extensive ten part report on Palestine is also set to launch in the upcoming week, so stay tuned as we release daily segments.

World

Israeli occupation and Palestinian Resistance to begin four-day truce

A four-day truce will begin on Friday between the Israeli occupation and Palestinian resistance group, with civilian captives set to be released from the Gaza Strip. Increased humanitarian aid will be entering Gaza “as soon as possible,” according to the Qatari Foreign Ministry. The deal includes a stop to the Israeli regime’s violence and hostilities across Gaza, and also includes the release of Palestinians from Israeli prisons. The truce comes after at least 14,532 Palestinians, including 6,000 children, have been killed in Israeli assaults in the past seven weeks, according to Palestinian authorities.

Economy

Russia and China almost completely de-dollarize

While the Western world sleeps at night thinking the dollar will forever remain the basis of global trade, it probably did not foresee the morning it would wake up to another horrifying reality. According to the Russian First Deputy Minister, 95 percent of trade between Russia and China is now carried out in their national currencies (rubles and yuan), and the percentage is likely to grow. Heightened sanctions and the pullout of Western companies from Russia has created vast opportunities for Chinese partners to enter the stage as the two nations strengthen and expand their economic ties more than ever before — a reality that is becoming a nightmare for the Western world.

Tech

Sam Altman return as OpenAI CEO

In what seemed like an orchestrated coup to remove OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, board members determined last Friday that he “was not consistently candid in his communications with the board” and therefore had to go. Over the next week, the company appointed two different interim CEOs, Altman appeared to have joined Microsoft, and OpenAI employees threatened to resign if he didn’t come back. Well, now he’s back and there’s a new board to replace the one that ousted him. An investigation into the whole saga is underway, but we know very little about what’s really unfolding in one of the most consequential companies in the history of computing.

What You Need to Know

Dutch Muslims fearful after election results

A far-right, anti-Islam party in the Netherlands just won an election, and Dutch Muslims are anxious over what this will mean for them. The Party for Freedom (PVV) is led by Geert Wilders, who has long attacked Islam as a fascist ideology, backward religion, and “retarded culture.” The party’s manifesto includes a ban on mosques, the Quran, and the hijab in government buildings. Wilders himself was convicted of discrimination in 2016 after calling Moroccans “scum” at a campaign rally. In some ways, Wilders is regarded as a Dutch version of Donald Trump, a concerning resemblance that Muslims in the Netherlands are not excited about, to say the least.

News

What Else is Brewing?

• While weaponizing food and water as a collective punishment tactic is not new, the besiegement of Gaza is long-standing and brutal. This explains why.

• They say to follow the money, so why aren't we? Dollars for Genocide explores explores the US stance in supporting the Zionist entity with money, diplomacy, logistics, manpower and more money. 

• It seems as though young people are leading this fight across the world. McGill University students vote in favor of a pro-Palestine policy with a record breaking turnout. 

• In recent news, we know that international journalists are not being allowed into Gaza to cover the ceasefire. Naturally, the question is why? 62 journalists have been killed so far in Lebanon and Gaza by the Zionist entity. 

• Mexican-American voices his support for Palestine in DC, saying he can relate. 

• Are we truly in 2023? Palestinians have been burying people in mass graves including unidentified or unidentifiable bodies. 

• Yemeni Resistance seized an Israeli ship Pirates of the Caribbean style; they swooped in from small boats and took over chanting slogans in support of Palestine, dancing dabke with crew on the ship and placed a large Palestinian flag right in the middle. 

• Saudi Arabia did what again? Not only are they not helping their brethren in need, they're entirely cracking down on people who are merely praying for them.

Jummah Inspo

“O you who have believed, do not take as intimates those other than yourselves [i.e., believers], for they will not spare you [any] ruin. They wish you would have hardship. Hatred has already appeared from their mouths, and what their breasts conceal is greater. We have certainly made clear to you the signs, if you will use reason.”

Holy Quran 3:118

Written by Zainabrights, Sara Salimi

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