Month: May 2024

When the Polish police raided the headquarters of TVP World to close down the media outlet, many pointed out that such images did not belong in the democratic European Union. However, just a few months later, the same thing has happened in Slovenia. 

Yesterday, on May 29th, police entered the headquarters of the conservative media outlet Nova24TV and searched the private home of its director, Boris Tomašič. For Venezuelan opposition activist Alejandro Peña Esclusa, a connoisseur of Slovenian politics, “the behaviour of the Slovenian government resembles that of Caribbean dictatorships, which is not surprising since one of the parties in the governing coalition, Levica, has close ties to the Venezuelan regime. The clearly illegal raid is reminiscent of the measures taken 20 years ago by Hugo Chávez to shut down Venezuela’s leading independent television station.”   

But what are they saying about this in Brussels? As in the Polish case, where Donald Tusk’s government has received Europe’s blessing despite purging the conservative media, Brussels’ double standards are scandalous. During the previous centre-right government, with a coalition government led by Janez Janša’s Democratic Party (SDS), Brussels took Slovenia to task for its “authoritarianism.” NGOs, the media, and, in particular, Věra Jourová, European Commission vice-president and commissioner for values, strongly raised concerns about the ‘Orbanisation’ of the Slovenian government and the lack of press freedom in the Balkan country, prompting a European Parliament monitoring mission to investigate whether the ‘rule of law’ was at risk. Janša himself denounced this campaign, noting that “the European Commission should stay out of political battles.“

However, all of the European Commission’s pressing concerns disappeared in April 2022, with the victory of Robert Golob’s Freedom Movement, which won the government with the support of the Left. One of Golob’s pre-election promises was to destroy the right-wing media, which he called “evil factories,” he also threatened anyone who advertised in the right-wing media and promised to “liberate” national television. 

First of all, they “liberated” national television by changing legislation and bypassing agreed conventions (very similar to what is happening now in Poland). The Constitutional Court initially suspended the law, but, ten days later, changed its mind after Věra Jourová met with the president of the court and allowed Golob’s government to take full control of national television. All non-left-wing journalists were dismissed with the resounding silence of the Slovenian Journalists’ Association and international journalistic associations.

On the other hand, the National Assembly set up a commission of enquiry made up of “independent” journalists, i.e. left-wing activists, and left-wing MPs to investigate possible illegal party financing (Janez Janša’s SDS) and media financing, but only of conservative media (Nova24TV and Demokracija magazine). Again, the fact that a government decided to investigate the opposition, its ideological adversaries, did not set off any alarm bells in Brussels. 

The result of their investigation, predictably, was that the right-wing media had been illegally financed, and they also accused the SDS of covert financing. The commission questioned all the managers of the right-wing media, several mayors of municipalities and owners of private companies that commissioned advertisements in the media. According to journalist Bogdan Sajovic, “the accusations are absurd, for example, one mayor was accused of publishing an advertisement in the right-wing media on the occasion of a municipal holiday, and another because his municipality ordered three copies of the magazine Demokracija … The commission is behaving in a totally Stalinist manner and has even gone so far as to request the magazine’s subscriber lists.”

Yesterday’s events are the result of the investigation into the state-owned company Telekom for allegedly financing Nova24TV. This investigation against Telekom and some of its directors has led to the raid on Nova24 and the search of the home of its director, Boris Tomašič, even though he was not yet a director at the time of the investigation. 

For Sajovic, “the whole investigation is practically bordering on illegality, and is basically an attempt to smear and intimidate Nova24 and its director during the pre-election period.” Mojca Kocjančič, the judge who ordered the search, is well known for her left-wing views.

Another journalist who knows well the persecution of conservative media is Jože Biščak, president of the Slovenian Association of Patriotic Journalists and former editor of Demokracija. In September 2022, Biščak was convicted for publishing a satirical article against illegal immigration by Alexander Škorc in the magazine Demokracija. “I was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment and two years’ probation for alleged defamation of immigrants, and the author to five months’ imprisonment and two years’ probation. It is a paradox that I received a longer sentence than the author. This shows that the target of the trial was Demokracija magazine.” 

In his opinion, the attack on the Slovenian conservative media is a consequence of the fact that the left-wing elite, which controls more than 80% of the media, is convinced that its opinion is the only one that counts. “Any deviation from their point of view is labelled xenophobia, racism or any other phobia”.

The raid against Nova24 comes amid the European election campaign, but in addition to the threat it poses to the conservative media, is it also a rabid reaction on the part of a Left that according to all the polls will suffer a serious defeat? Janez Janša answers this question in the affirmative: “Yes, Golob has already lost half of its popular support in less than two years. Realistically, the parties in the governing coalition will only be able to win three of Slovenia’s nine seats”. 

The likely defeat of Golob’s coalition is good news, but we must not let our guard down in the face of this dangerous authoritarian drift that is becoming increasingly common. The persecution of dissident media and attacks on freedom of expression are no longer the exclusive preserve of autocracies, and are now being allowed to run rampant through the hypocritical double standards of the Brussels institutions. This is one more reason, not least, why a change of course is so necessary in the forthcoming European elections. Let us hope that Slovenia will be one of the axes of that change.    

https://europeanconservative.com/articles/analysis/slovenia-the-consequences-of-the-double-standards-in-brussels

French Senators voted in favour of the introduction of measures curtailing child-gender transitions, prompting an outcry from the political Left.

The move on May 28 has been praised as an imperfect “first step” by those on the Right, who said more needed to be done to protect children from “gender ideology”.

Under the new legislation, minors would be banned from being subjected to surgical interventions regarding alleged “gender dysphoria”, with the provision of cross-sex hormones to under-18s also being banned.

It will remain legal to prescribe children puberty blockers, although only after they are monitored by a relevant specialist for two years or more.

Speaking in the wake of the vote, Reconquête MEP Nicolas Bay said it was good to see action being taken to protect children but that more still needed to be done.

“This draft law is far from perfect, since it still authorises puberty blockers for minors,” he said.

He also expressed scepticism as to whether the legislation would ever be voted on in the French lower house, as he believes that French President Emmanuel Macron’s government will block the law over fears it is “transphobic”.

Bay ridiculed such claims, arguing that current adherents of gender ideology had gone too far.

“At Reconquête, we fight gender ideology and its abuses. A woman is a woman, a man is a man,” Bay added.

“If some people have identity problems, we have to help them but by providing psychological support, not by mutilating them and encouraging them in their delusions, especially children who are full of imagination and vulnerable to propaganda.

“When she was 5, my daughter wanted to be a fairy. Should I have had wings transplanted on her back? If someone is convinced they are a dog or Napoleon, should they be operated accordingly and have their civil status changed?” he asked.

“The whole thing is as ridiculous as it is dangerous,” Bay concluded.

Left-wing politicians in France have responded to the legislation’s passing with fury, lambasting efforts by the Republicans and Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party as being an attempt to dehumanise trans people.

“The real problems you have are that trans people exist and you can do nothing to prevent it and no law can do it,” Green Senator Mélanie Vogel argued before the vote.

She added that her “transgender niece” — whom she described as being a “little girl” — would be targeted under the legislation.

“I am not distressed by her trans identity at all,” Vogel said while attacking the right.

“What distresses me is the fact of knowing that I cannot completely protect her from people like you.”

The vote also provoked an angry reaction from trans activists in the country, some of whom compared France to Iran over the proposal.

“This proposed law is a shame! A shame for France!,” trans journalist Béatrice Denaes said on French radio.

“We are going to be the first Western country, equal to Russia or Iran, to ban them from living their lives!”

Iran is one of the few countries in the Middle East where transgender surgeries are not only legal but State-subsidised, with the procedure being seen as a legitimate way of avoiding “sin” for adherents to the country’s brand of Shia Islam.

French Senate backs curbs on child sex transitions (brusselssignal.eu)

A dance evening, the ‘farmers’ ball”, was held on Saturday evening in the Murinais ballroom organised by young farmers from Saint-Marcellin and Pont-en-Royans.

An initial brawl broke out outside the hall between two men who had just come from the party and half a dozen others who were outside, all of them young people from Saint-Marcellin. As other people came out of the hall to aid their two friends, their opponents were pushed back and they fled.

Murinais (38) : un jeune homme de 20 ans hospitalisé après avoir été tabassé lors d'un bal de village organisé par des agriculteurs ; des jeunes originaires de Saint-Marcellin sont venus troubler la fête (MàJ) https://t.co/GMF7w04oPG pic.twitter.com/RdcdPdeogf

— Fdesouche.com est une revue de presse (@F_Desouche) May 29, 2024

In a second phase, however, they returned with reinforcements and a second, much more violent brawl broke out, during which the main victim was kicked and punched. The young man was discharged from hospital later that day but had suffered serious head injuries and was placed on 13 days incapacity to work (ITT).

‘They were the same as in Crepol,’ the mayor confessed.

‘The attackers wanted to beat up white people,’ reported a witness.

Crépol, suite – Le Salon Beige

A Canadian man who was “very sick” as a kid and now lives with a chronic disability says he feels “completely traumatized” and violated that he was offered state-sanctioned euthanasia “multiple times” instead of getting the proper care he needs while in the hospital.

The man, 49-year-old Roger Foley, was highlighted in a short film by filmmaker Amanda Achtman as part of her Dying to Meet You series.

Foley, speaking from his hospital bed in the video posted on YouTube, said that as he lived his early life as a sick child he was “very uncoordinated and always tired.”

“And then they didn’t really have a lot of testing of what I ended up being diagnosed with. So, I just thought I’m lazy, I can work through it,” he said.

Foley grew up with his dad, who was a plumber and a World War II veteran. He recounted that he had “a lot of perseverance.”

“And I guess that rubbed off on me. When he passed away, it was really hard,” he said.

Foley was asked if he had been offered euthanasia, or medical assistance in dying (MAiD), as it is known to end his life. He confirmed that he had been offered the procedure, which has been legal in Canada since 2016, “multiple times.”

“One time, he asked me, do you have any thoughts of self-harm? I’m honest with him and tell him, I do think about ending my life because of what I’m going through, being prevented from the resources that I need to live safely back at home,” Foley said.

“And from out of nowhere, he just pulls out, ‘Well, if you don’t get self-directed funding, you can always apply for an assisted, you know what I mean?’ You feel so pillaged.”

LifeSiteNews was unable to reach Foley before publication to ask him more questions about having been offered euthanasia.

In the video, Foley, who did not disclose the exact nature of his condition, only noting that he could not “even function” without medication and that he is “bedridden,” he noted that Canada’s current healthcare system has not helped him to live his life better, but instead caused him more struggles.

“It’s completely traumatized me,” said Foley, adding that now “it’s this overlying option, where in my situation when I say I’m suicidal, I’m met with, ‘Well, you know, the hospital has a program to help you with that if you want to end your life.’”

“That didn’t exist before MAiD was legalized. But now it’s there. There is not going to be a second within the rest of my life that I’m going to have flashbacks to it, the devaluing of me and all that I am,” he noted.

Due to Foley’s inability to do basic tasks with the help of another person, he has had to rely on the help of hospital staff for almost everything.

When it comes to MAiD, he observed that the mainstream narrative that opposition to it only comes from people of faith is nothing but “gaslighting.”

“That’s the ultimate gaslighting statement. Like I’m not religious, I respect people who are religious. Saying that it’s just religious persons who oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide are completely wrong,” he said.

Foley observed that when it comes to his future, he has “hope” that soon he will be able to “break” through the “system” so that he can live at home.

“The thing that gives me hope is that one day this titanium wall of a system, I’ll be able to, to break through it and get access to the resources that I need and to live at home with workers who want to work with me, and I want to work with them,” he said.

“And we can work as a team … I have a passion to that. Like, I don’t want to give up my life.”

In February, after pushback from pro-life, medical, and mental health groups, as well as most of Canada’s provinces, the federal government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delayed its planned expansion of MAiD to those suffering solely from mental illness to 2027.

The number of Canadians killed by lethal injection since 2016 stands at close to around 65,000, with an estimated 16,000 deaths in 2023 alone, and many fear that because the official statistics are manipulated the number may be even higher.

Indeed, a recent Statistics Canada update admitted to excluding euthanasia from its death totals despite it being the sixth-highest cause of mortality in the nation.

Earlier this week, LifeSiteNews published a report noting how a Canadian combat veteran and artillery gunner revealed, while speaking on a podcast with Dr. Jordan Peterson, that the drugs used in MAiD essentially waterboard a person to death.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/disabled-canadian-man-says-he-has-been-offered-euthanasia-multiple-times-while-in-the-hospital/?utm_source=most_recent&utm_campaign=usa

The President of the Technical University of Berlin (TU), Geraldine Rauch, has apparently ‘liked’ several anti-Semitic posts on the X online platform. Her profile, which has since been deleted, placed a ‘like’ on a photo of a pro-Palestinian demonstration in which Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can be seen on a poster featuring swastikas. Another post, which Rauch apparently liked, accused the state of Israel of ‘genocide in Gaza’.

Liebe TU-Präsidentin @GeraldineR76081,

wieso liken sie Beiträge auf denen Netanyahu mit Hakenkreuzen beschmiert ist? pic.twitter.com/Zk5MaxOjOO

— Noam Petri (@NoamPetri) May 28, 2024

The author Noam Petri, who made the matter public, then accused Rauch of relativising National Socialism. ‘You don’t have to be a supporter of Netanyahu.’ But marking a picture with ‘I like’ that depicts Netanyahu covered in swastikas is unworthy of a Berlin university president. ‘It also relativises National Socialism. The gaffe also represents a disinhibition that also makes political discourse impossible,’ Petri told the Bild newspaper.

The German government’s anti-Semitism commissioner, Felix Klein, also sharply criticised Rauch. Jewish students have been suffering ‘a completely unacceptable situation since October 7. They have to fear for their safety at many universities because of organised anti-Semitic incitement,’ he told the newspaper Jüdische Allgemeine. With regard to Rauch’s online conduct, Klein emphasised that he could not imagine Jewish students ‘trusting a university president to protect them from hatred and incitement when she publicly endorses statements that reproduce the very anti-Semitic narratives’.

The former member of the Bundestag and current president of the German-Israeli Society, Volker Beck, also criticised the behaviour of the TU president. When he saw the contributions, he was ‘initially speechless’. The posts were ‘one-sided, delegitimising Israel, like an anti-Israel activist account’, Beck told the Jüdische Allgemeine.

Neither the TU Berlin nor Rauch himself have yet commented on the allegations.

Antisemitismus-Vorwürfe gegen Präsidentin der TU Berlin (jungefreiheit.de)

A 16-year-old pupil at the Lycée Charles Cros in Carcassonne (Aude) was taken into police custody on Wednesday May 29 because of death threats against her teacher, Le Figaro has learned from consistent sources. These threats are said to be linked to comments the teacher had made the day before about the pupil’s clothes at school, the Carcassonne public prosecutor’s office confirmed to us.

According to our information, the teenager is registered in the S file (abbreviation for ‘sûreté de l’État’, editor’s note) because of her links to the Islamist movement. On May 15, she was even issued with an individual measure of administrative control and surveillance (MICAS) prohibiting her from being in the vicinity of the Olympic flame procession in Carcassonne on May 16, according to a source familiar with the case.

A complaint was filed by Joël Laporte, Academic Director of the Directorate of Departments of the Department of Education of the Aude (DSDEN), as confirmed to Le Figaro by the Rectorate of the Montpellier Academy. ‘The Rector, Sophie Bejean, and the Academic Director of the DSDEN of Aude, Joël Laporte, strongly condemn the threats made and express their full support for the teacher who was attacked,’ the Rectorate said.

The headteacher imposed provisional coercive measures on the pupil before disciplinary proceedings are initiated. She was banned from entering the school. The teacher who was verbally assaulted was offered a support and counselling programme, as the headmaster’s office finally announced. The pupil was still in police custody on Wednesday evening. Le Figaro

Carcassonne (11) : une lycéenne de 16 ans, fichée S pour islamisme, placée en garde à vue après des menaces de mort envers son enseignante ayant fait “des remarques sur sa tenue” – Fdesouche

 A Scottish mother says the $150,000 in compensation she has been awarded after being left paralyzed from the chest down by the COVID shot is “woefully inadequate.” 

According to the Daily Mail, 56-year-old Clare Bowie from Dumbarton, Scotland was awarded £120,000 ($150,000 USD) through the government’s vaccine compensation program after she became unable to move from the chest down two weeks after taking the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine. 

“I was fully paralyzed to chest level, and it was spreading,” Bowie recounted. “I started to lose the ability to breathe and speak. It was scary.”  

Bowie’s symptoms began appearing just two weeks after receiving the COVID shot in April 2021. After six MRI scans, Bowie was diagnosed with acute disseminated encephalitis complicated by transverse myelitis, a condition that causes inflammation in the brain and spinal cord.  

As a result of her illness, Bowie was forced to retire from the Ministry of Defence administration where she had worked for 37 years.   

Steroids and other drugs worked to slow down her illness, and in July 2021, she could wiggle her toes for the first time in months. However, her recovery was slow due to muscle wastage. 

“I do physio every day, so I can walk,” she said, adding that now, three years after receiving the shot, she can walk about 20 steps.   

“But it’s actually enough to get me from my bed to the toilet and to my living room chair. If I am being perfectly honest, I am just grateful to be alive,” she declared.  

After losing her job and ability to walk, Bowie’s husband applied for compensation under the government’s vaccine injury program in October 2021. In February 2023, a year and a half after applying, the money was deposited in her account.  

However, Bowie revealed that the amount is “woefully inadequate” considering the impact the vaccine had on her life.   

“You think £120,000 is massive,” she said. “I’ve been in the civil service all my life, I wasn’t used to that money. But the bottom line is it doesn’t clear your mortgage and modify your house.” 

Unfortunately, Bowie is not the only one given inadequate compensation after being left injured by the experimental COVID shots.   

In Canada, pro-vaccine and Liberal funded CBC published a story featuring a Quebec man who developed a severe skin condition after taking Moderna’s mRNA experimental COVID-19 shot. 

Like many Canadians, the man is still waiting to receive compensation from Canada’s vaccine injury program, which has only paid out 138 of the 2,233 claims made to the program.  

LifeSiteNews has published an extensive amount of research on the dangers of receiving the experimental COVID mRNA jabs, which include heart damage and blood clots.  

The mRNA shots have also been linked to a multitude of negative and often severe side effects in children.  

Since the vaccine rollout, excess deaths have skyrocketed in countries where the mRNA vaccines were administered en masse. Similarly, CDC recently disclosed 780,000 new reports of serious side effects from the shot. 

The latest conservative estimate is that over 17 million worldwide died from receiving the injections, making this the worst man-caused medical catastrophe in history. 

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/scottish-woman-paralyzed-by-covid-shot-says-150k-in-compensation-is-woefully-inadequate/?utm_source=most_recent&utm_campaign=usa

He posts hate and incitement against the Jewish state, makes Islamist rap – and yet he was naturalised!
In a rap video published at the beginning of January, rapper Abu Shaqra from Halle cheered the Hamas massacre on October 7: ‘My people, they are making history,’ said the rapper, adding that the ‘Jerusalem flood’ was coming at lightning speed; an allusion to the operation name al-Aksa flood, as Hamas officially calls the attack on October 7.
More than 1000 Jews were murdered by the Islamists that day and 250 people were abducted. Obviously a reason for Abu Shaqra to rejoice.
Behind the pseudonym is Mohammed H. (18), who says he grew up in Syria. In February of this year, he received his naturalisation certificate from the city of Halle – a month and a half after he published the anti-Semitic hate song.
In November, the Ministry of the Interior of Saxony-Anhalt issued a decree stating that a commitment to Israel’s right to exist was a prerequisite for naturalisation.

Did Abu Shaqra know about it? He removed the hate song from his social media profile shortly before his naturalisation, but the recordings are still circulating online amongst his fans. The hate rapper was apparently even supported by state-sponsored initiatives.
In a video from the Ministry of Family Affairs’ “Competence Network for Coexistence in the Migration Society”, “Abu Shaqra” appears as a representative of the Scout Spirits group.
He would like ‘more space for the young people’, says ‘Abu Shaqra’. It was very hard for his group to find an area where they could carry out all their projects.

His wish came true: on November 18, 2023, ‘Abu Shaqra’ was able to record his hate song at the ‘Passage 13’ meeting centre (Halle). The centre cooperates with the model project ‘Unserhayat – Unser Leben’, which in turn is funded by the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs’ “Live Democracy!” programme.

Apparently none of the numerous youth workers and employees in the initiatives notice how the adolescent Abu Shaqra is slipping away, even though he is showing ever clearer signs of radicalisation on Instagram.
He writes that the West has conspired against Muslims in order to eradicate and subjugate them. He also shows himself to be a follower of the Salafist preacher Othman al-Khamees, who insulted Jews and Christians as monkeys and pigs.
In photos, Abu Shaqra increasingly shows an upraised index finger: the so-called ‘tauhid finger’ is particularly popular among supporters of the terrorist group ‘Islamic State’. It is used to propagate an Islamist ideology of superiority that at least implies the use of violence against ‘infidels’.

Hajo Berger from the Alliance Against Anti-Semitism Halle has meticulously documented the young person’s activities, telling the tabloid BILD: ‘The rapper Abu Shaqra published his song on social media in order to spread his anti-Semitic fantasies of annihilation.’
The real scandal, however, was ‘that a youth centre made itself available as a space for this and organised an evening for anti-Semitic rap together with the organisation Scout Spirit’.
And the justice system? Public prosecutor Benedikt Bernzen – who recently took Björn Höcke to court – was unable to find any criminal content in the hate song.
Rather, it is ‘lyrical verses that express an inner connection to the state of Palestine and its people – apparently motivated by the violent events in Israel and Gaza since October 7, 2023’, according to the Halle public prosecutor.
Drago Bock, spokesman for the city of Halle, told BILD: ‘If the allegations are confirmed, this would explicitly contradict the city’s basic maxims for integrative youth work.

Trotz antisemitischer Hetze: Hass-Rapper Abu-Shaqra eingebürgert | Politik | BILD.de

Many critics thought the International Criminal Court had gone too far when its prosecutor asked for arrest warrants against Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

But as the saying goes, “you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”

Now, the prosecutor’s office has threatened to prosecute criticism of… himself. Those who seek to defend Israel and stop the malicious, deeply antisemitic action against its leaders and against the Jewish state are now being told that their words and actions may also be a crime.

This may sound like something out of Alice in Wonderland, but it is an effort not only to limit freedom of speech, but to limit the constitutional powers of the United States Congress.

After the prosecutor called for the arrest warrants for top Israeli officials, 12 United States Senators wrote to the ICC. The full text of the letter is below. The final paragraphs read:

“If you issue a warrant for the arrest of the Israeli leadership, we will interpret this not only as a threat to Israel’s sovereignty but to the sovereignty of the United States.

“The United States will not tolerate politicized attacks by the ICC on our allies. Target Israel and we will target you. If you move forward with the measures indicated in the report, we will move to end all American support for the ICC, sanction your employees and associates, and bar you and your families from the United States. You have been warned.”

The reaction of the Prosecutor’s office came in a tweet, whose text is also below. The key language is this:

“When individuals threaten to retaliate against the Court or Court personnel…. such threats, even when not acted upon, may also constitute an offence against the administration of justice under Art. 70 of the Rome Statute….”

Wow.

The 12 United States Senators are already criminals, according to the ICC Prosecutor, for writing their letter— even if absolutely nothing else happens. Note that the Prosecutor writes of “individuals” who may threaten the ICC, whereas the Senators write as U.S. government officials about possible official U.S. government actions. In plain language, the Prosecutor is arguing that he and the ICC are above criticism. Forget freedom of speech or national sovereignty. To say that the United States, which is not a party to the Rome Statute, might react to punish the ICC for illegal and immoral actions it and its employees may take is not permitted.

Suppose for a moment that the U.S. Congress passes the new legislation the 12 Senators threatened, along the lines of the ASPA—the American Servicemembers Protection Act. That was 2002 legislation to protect U.S. military and other personnel from prosecution by the ICC. ASPA gave the president power to use “all means necessary and appropriate to bring about the release of any U.S. or allied personnel being detained or imprisoned by, on behalf of, or at the request of the International Criminal Court.” ASPA has been colloquially known as “The Hague Invasion Act.”

Voting for such legislation even if it does not pass would clearly, in the view of the ICC prosecutor, be a crime — a form of retaliation and threat prohibited to every inhabitant of Earth by the Rome Statute. So much for the Constitution, for national sovereignty, for self-government, for freedom of speech. The ICC apparently stands above all of that— even for citizens and governmental bodies in countries, such as the United States, that have not signed the Rome Statute and thereby agreed to be subject to the ICC.

This attempted power grab is breathtaking, and should be summarily rejected by citizens and governments around the world. For the United States, this effort to criminalize Senate action and even a call for Senate action should have been met with immediate rejection by Attorney General Garland and President Joe Biden. Silence in this case can be interpreted as consent, and much more is required.

As that term “The Hague Invasion Act” suggests, no one knows how far the ICC is prepared to go — or how far Americans are prepared to go to defend ourselves. What would happen if the lawless prosecutor, Karim Khan, followed his call for arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant with an effort to indict the 12 Senators? Would Garland and Biden then react? Would US House Majority Leader Chuck Schumer? What if the Senators travelled to a country that has joined the Rome Statute? Would they be jailed and sent to The Hague?

One assumes that the judges of the ICC are not crazy enough to go down this road, even if Karim Khan is. But then, it was widely assumed that the ICC would not move against a democracy such as Israel — and who would have predicted that the prosecutor would threaten United States Senators for “threatening” to pass legislation he does not like?

=================

LETTER TO ICC PROSECUTOR FROM 12 UNITED STATES SENATORS

Mr. Karim A. A. Khan KC
Office of the Prosecutor International Criminal Court
Oude Waalsdorperweg 10 The Hague, The Netherlands

Dear Mr. Khan,

We write regarding the reports that the International Criminal Court (ICC) may be considering issuing international arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials. Such actions are illegitimate and lack legal basis, and if carried out will result in severe sanctions against you and your institution.

The ICC is attempting to punish Israel for taking legitimate actions of self-defense against their Iranian-backed aggressors. In fact, in your own words, you witnessed “scenes of calculated cruelty” conducted by Hamas in Israel following the October 7 attacks. These arrest warrants would align the ICC with the largest state sponsor of terrorism and its proxy. To be clear, there is no moral equivalence between Hamas’s terrorism and Israel’s justified response.

The ICC is also prohibited by its charter from proceeding in any case unless the relevant government is unwilling or unable to police themselves. You yourself have said that “Israel has trained lawyers who advise commanders and a robust system intended to ensure compliance with international humanitarian law.” By issuing warrants, you would be calling into question the legitimacy of Israel’s laws, legal system, and democratic form of government.

Issuing arrest warrants for the leaders of Israel would not only be unjustified, it would expose your organization’s hypocrisy and double standards. Your office has not issued arrest warrants for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei or any other Iranian official, Syrian President Bashar al Assad or any other Syrian official, or Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh or any other Hamas official. Nor have you issued an arrest warrant for the genocidal General Secretary of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, or any other Chinese official.

Finally, neither Israel nor the United States are members of the ICC and are therefore outside of your organization’s supposed jurisdiction. If you issue a warrant for the arrest of the Israeli leadership, we will interpret this not only as a threat to Israel’s sovereignty but to the sovereignty of the United States. Our country demonstrated in the American Service-Members’ Protection Act the lengths to which we will go to protect that sovereignty.

The United States will not tolerate politicized attacks by the ICC on our allies. Target Israel and we will target you. If you move forward with the measures indicated in the report, we will move to end all American support for the ICC, sanction your employees and associates, and bar you and your families from the United States. You have been warned.

/s/

Tom Cotton
Mitch McConnell
Marsha Blackburn
Katie Boyd Britt
Ted Budd
Kevin Cramer
Ted Cruz
Bill Hagerty
Pete Ricketts
Marco Rubio
Rick Scott
Tim Scott

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20666/icc-threatens-us-senators

Ahead of the European Parliament elections in June, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s border control masterplan appears to have yielded results, with illegal migration having fallen by 62 per cent in 2023.

This fall appears to have accelerated in 2024, with the country seeing just 16,000 irregular border crossings in Q1, compared to 47,700 in 2023.

In April, there were almost 4,600 arrivals, a decrease of nearly 70 per cent from the previous year.

The drop in irregular migrants to the country seems to confirm the success of the policies pushed by Meloni. That has come after she worked to find agreements with third countries to combat irregular migration while also changing legislation to block NGOs from shipping in migrants.

The European Border and Coast Guard Agency Frontex reported that the number of irregular border crossings into the European Union in the first four months of 2024 fell by almost a quarter.

The Central Mediterranean route — which Italy is at the centre of — saw one of the biggest declines in irregular crossings among the major migratory routes.

The Italian PM’s efforts had previously earned the praise of both the European Commission and its president, Ursula von der Leyen.

On May 28, the EC chief praised Meloni, saying she had “consolidated her position in the European Union”, and stressed the importance of the PM’s role in the approval of the new European Asylum and Migration Pact.

Von der Leyen said she had “worked together” well with Meloni, Italian news agency Ansa reported, describing the PM as pro-European and anti-Putin.

The outgoing EC President indicated she wanted to continue to co-oprate with Meloni, adding she would find it harder to work with other parties including the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group in the European Parliament.

When Meloni was elected in Italy in October 2022, many on the Left and in the media were quick to label her as “fascist” and “far-right”, putting pressure on von der Leyen’s European People’s Party to shun her.

Today, the Italian PM appears to have successfully navigated such efforts to undermine her.

Conversely, those on the Right, and in particular members of the Identity and Democracy (ID) group, have been more critical of Meloni, having attacked her over what they describe as political weakness on migration.

Now, ahead of the EP vote, that hostility seems to be dissipating. Marine Le Pen of France’s National Rally has attempted to court Meloni as part of her apparent proposals to create a right-wing “supergroup” within the European Parliament.

Meloni responded by saying there was “no unification in sight” but, ahead of the elections, many take that with a pinch of salt.

Only the Alternative for Germany (AfD) has continued to oppose Meloni’s work. On May 25 at an AfD event, the party’s co-leader Tino Chrupalla described her as a sheep in wolf’s clothing, pushing for a Brussels agenda, open borders and weapons for Ukraine.

“This Melonisation will not happen with us,” Chrupalla added.

Still, the AfD has been kicked out of the ID group and seems to be somewhat isolated for the time being.

As things stand, Meloni can act as a power broker between the emerging Right and the centre. She is also credited as acting as a bridge between the EC and Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán.

To many, that strengthens her hand regarding who will be the next EC president.

“Meloni has been clever,” Daniele Albertazzi, a politics professor at Britain’s Surrey University, told Reuters on May 29.

“What she’s done is to say: ‘Look, let’s be mainstream and responsible on the international stage because I need these guys.’”

On May 27, Meloni told Italian Rai Radio1: “Today there are opportunities to change the European picture that have never existed before. We owe it to ourselves to take advantage of them.

“There are the margins to build a different majority in the European parliament and therefore a different Europe with different policies.”

After more than 19 months in power, the European elections can be seen as a referendum in Italy on her track record – but they might also become her springboard regarding the direction of events in the EU.

Italy sees illegal migration collapse under Meloni masterplan (brusselssignal.eu)