Catherine Shakdam, a French-British journalist who wrote numerous articles for the website of #Iran's Supreme Leader, is of Jewish ancestry (which they didn't know) and wrote an article for The @TimesofIsrael, led her being accused of being an #Israeli spy iranintl.com/en/202203136114
#pt: Catherine Shakdam, a Jewish French-British journalist who was a propagandist for #Iran, says she "realize[d] ... there was a ... great hypocrisy" in the regime, and in combination with its call "for genocide of an entire people", it turned her against the theocracy.
Catherine Shakdam, who converted to Khomeinist Islam, about five years ago reconnected with her Jewish roots, but continued working for #Iran's media and interacting with the regime's senior officials, until she "came out" in November 2021. timesofisrael.com/im-no-mossad-s…
#pt: "According to Perez-Shakdam, her daughter hopes to serve in the Israeli army."
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Nobody - not one single person on this earth - knows with any accuracy what the state of #Russian public opinion is about #Putin's war on #Ukraine, so arguments and commentary that blame for this on the Russian people are analytical junk, as well as morally suspect.
There's no reason to deny there *is* support for Putin's war in Russia: some of it positive/ideological (pan-Slavists, Orthodox believers, regime loyalists), some of it "negative", from people who cannot support the killing of Russian soldiers and/or the nation being defeated.
Note, however, there are severe penalties in #Russia for the expression of dissent against this war, and *even so* there have been mass demonstrations across the whole country, with thousands of people arrested, and open elite dissatisfaction even on the main propaganda channel.
Molly Malekar, executive director of Amnesty International Israel, says Amnesty report accusing Israel of apartheid was deeply flawed, misrepresenting the situation of Arab Israelis, and pressing an ideological point rather than saying what needs fixing. timesofisrael.com/amnestys-israe…
Molly Malekar, executive director of Amnesty International Israel, says she agrees with the criticism of Amnesty for the report accusing Israel of "apartheid" in being too monomaniacal in its target; "it stands out, it has been exaggerated."
Molly Malekar, executive director of Amnesty International Israel: "I also have a problem with Amnesty International's approach on antisemitism. Amnesty is supposed to fight antisemitism. It does, but not enough, and sometimes I feel that it needs to be pressured into action."
#Ukraine's President Zelensky said a few hours ago he is still going to Germany tomorrow for the Munich Security Conference. Whether this is supposed to promote calm or what is unclear; it's a hell of a time for him to leave his capital.
President #Biden just said in his White House address that the US believes the #Russians will invade #Ukraine in the next few days and "they will target Ukraine's capital, Kiev".
#Russia's government not being very subtle about how this is going to go with #Ukraine: a provocation will be staged and the Russians will claim to be acting in self-defence when they invade, while screaming about 'Western false-flag operations'.
US intelligence believes #Russia is preparing to stage a false flag incident to justify its initiation of hostilities in #Ukraine. Been a lot of signs for months that Moscow was plotting provocation to ignite this.
#Russia's representative to international organisations in Vienna. At this stage, Moscow isn't even trying as it prepares its provocation to begin the offensive in #Ukraine.