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Tlaib Will Not Visit West Bank After Israel Reverses Travel Restriction Against Her

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  • Rep. Rashida Tlaib announced that she will not go see her family in the West Bank after Israel rescinded a previous travel restriction they had placed on her.
  • That restriction, announced by Israel on Thursday, blocked Tlaib and Rep. Ilham Omar from visiting Israel on a scheduled trip due to their support of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement.
  • Tlaib, who had planned to visit her grandmother during the visit, appealed the decision on humanitarian grounds and was granted her request to see her family after promising that she would not promote the boycotts against Israel on her trip.
  • Tlaib ultimately decided not to go to Israel, writing on Twitter, “I have decided that visiting my grandmother under these oppressive conditions stands against everything I believe in.”

Israel Reverses Restriction

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) said Friday she will not visit her family in the West Bank hours after Israel reversed a decision made the day before to block her from entering the country.

On Thursday, Israel announced it would bar Tlaib and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) from visiting the country during a planned trip because of their support for the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.

Israeli officials had originally said they would allow the two congresswomen to visit on their trip, which was set to start Sunday.

They later backtracked after President Donald Trump prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to block the two women from entering.

Tlaib had also planned to visit her grandmother and other family members who live in the West Bank.

Tlaib’s Letter & Statement

Following Israel’s announcement Thursday, Tlaib wrote a letter to Israeli Interior Minister Aryeh Deri to appeal the decision.

“I would like to request admittance to Israel in order to visit my relatives, and specifically my grandmother, who is in her 90s,” Tlaib wrote. “This could be my last opportunity to see her. I will respect any restrictions and will not promote boycotts against Israel during my visit.”

Deri agreed on Friday to grant Tlaib’s request on humanitarian grounds, but shortly after, Tliab announced that she would be canceling her trip to the West Bank.

“The Israeli government used my love and desire to see my grandmother to silence me and made my ability to do so contingent upon my signing a letter,” Tlaib wrote in a statement. “I have therefore decided to not travel to Palestine and Israel at this time.”

“When I won the election to become a United States Congresswoman, many Palestinians, especially my grandmother, felt a sense of hope, a hope that they would finally have a voice,” she continued.

“I cannot allow the Israeli government to take that away from them or to use my deep desire to see my grandmother, potentially for the last time, as a political bargaining chip.”

Tlaib also echoed parts of her statement in a post on Twitter. Referring to her grandmother, Tlaib wrote, “Silencing me & treating me like a criminal is not what she wants for me.” 

“I have decided that visiting my grandmother under these oppressive conditions stands against everything I believe in–fighting against racism, oppression & injustice,” she continued.

A Complicated Double-Bind

Israeli Interior Minister Deri reacted strongly to Tlaib’s decision.

“I approved her request as a gesture of goodwill on a humanitarian basis, but it was just a provocative request, aimed at bashing the State of Israel,” he wrote in a tweet. “Apparently her hate for Israel overcomes her love for her grandmother.”

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However, others have argued that the situation is more nuanced. Nour Odeh, who had helped plan Tlaib’s trip, told NPR that Tlaib’s decision reflects a broader conflict many Palestinians face.

“Palestinians of all walks of life are put in the impossible situation of having to choose between championing their principles, between defending their cause for freedom, between speaking their mind — and enjoying the basic humanitarian conditions that everybody is entitled to, including having access to their families,” Odeh said.

Tlaib’s Family Responds

Members of Tlaib’s family who spoke to U.S. journalists made similar points. The congresswoman’s uncle, Bassem Tlaib, who lives in the West Bank, told NPR that his village had been preparing for her arrival.

“We have mixed feelings now; we’re happy she didn’t accept the Israeli demands but we’ll miss her,” he said. “Israel does not want us to show our allies in the US how the Israeli occupation treats us. They want our lives to be a secret.”

Tlaib’s grandmother, Muftiyah Tlaib, also told the Washington Post that while she did not understand why her granddaughter could not come visit her, she was still proud of her.

“Who wouldn’t be proud of a granddaughter like that?” she said. “I love her and am so proud of her.”

She told the Post that the planned visit would have been the first time the two have seen each other since around 2007.

“My family and I have cried together throughout this ordeal; they’ve promised to keep my grandmother alive until I can one day reunite with her,” Tlaib said in her statement.

“It is with their strength and heart that I reiterate I am a duly elected United States Congresswoman and I will not allow the Israeli government to humiliate me and my family or take away our right to speak out.”

See what others are saying: (The Washington Post) (NPR) (Vox)

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Dutch Man Who Fathered Over 500 Kids Is Being Sued to Stop Donating Sperm Over Incest Concerns

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Meijer is accused of having children in 13 different countries. 


550 Children 

Johnathon Jacob Meijer, a 41-year-old Dutch man, is currently facing a lawsuit that aims to forbid him from donating sperm after he allegedly fathered at least 550 children.

The lawsuit claims that Meijer’s prolific and obsessive donation habit heightens the risk of accidental incest for his children. 

Meijer has donated to at least 13 clinics, mostly located in the Netherlands. He also used websites and social media to reach out to women looking for donors. In 2017, after the Dutch Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology learned that Meijer had already fathered more than 100 children, he was blacklisted from all clinics in the Netherlands. However, he has reportedly continued his donations in Ukraine, Denmark, and other countries. 

One professional tracking Meijer’s movements told The New York Times in 2021 that she had found mothers of his children in Australia, Italy, Serbia, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Switzerland, Romania, Sweden, Mexico, and the United States.

The Lawsuit 

One mother from the Netherlands has partnered with Donorkind — a Dutch organization for children conceived via a sperm donor — to bring this lawsuit against Meijer. 

The mother claims that Meijer told her that he didn’t have more than 25 donor children.

 “When I think about the consequences this could have for my child, I get a bad gut feeling and I become uncertain about his future: how many more children will be added?” she said to Donorkind. 

Donorkind and the mother are looking for the court to order Meijer to stop donating and for any clinic that has his sperm to destroy it. 

See what others are saying: (The New York Times) (The Telegraph) (Insider)

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U.S. Intel Suggests Pro-Ukraine Group Sabotaged Nord Stream Pipeline

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There is no evidence that the culprits behind the attack were acting under the direction of the Ukrainian government.


Europe Braces for Shocking Revelations

A pro-Ukraine group blew up the Nord Stream pipelines last September, intelligence reviewed by U.S. officials suggests.

The New York Times reported the news Tuesday, citing officials who said there was no evidence of involvement by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, any of his top lieutenants, or any government officials.

The strength of the evidence, however, is not clear, and U.S. officials declined to inform The Times on the nature of the intelligence or how it was obtained. They reportedly added that the intelligence indicates neither who the group’s members are nor who funded and directed the operation.

The Times’ sources said they believe the saboteurs were most likely Russian or Ukrainian nationals and that they possibly received specialized government training in the past.

It’s also possible that the group behind the attack was a proxy with covert ties to Kyiv, the report added.

When three of four Nord Stream pipelines were found to be severely damaged last year, the revelation shook markets and sent European gas prices soaring. Nord Stream 1, which was completed in 2011, and Nord Stream 2, which had been laid down but wasn’t yet operational, supplied Germany and by extension the rest of Western Europe with cheap Russian natural gas.

Following the explosions, Poland and Ukraine blamed Russia, and Russia blamed Britain. Other observers speculated that Ukraine might be behind it too.

More Ongoing Investigations

Last month, investigative journalist Seymour Hersh claimed in a Substack article that the United States military carried out the attack and that President Biden authorized it himself. However, Hersh’s report cited only one anonymous source in support of its central claim, so it was largely dismissed as not credible.

Western governments expressed caution on Wednesday in response to The Times report.

“There are ongoing national investigations and I think it’s right to wait until those are finalized before we say anything more about who was behind it,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement.

Russia, by contrast, pounced on the opportunity to renew its demand for inclusion in a proposed international probe into the pipeline explosion.

The Ukrainian government denied any involvement in the Nord Stream explosions.

On Wednesday, multiple German media outlets reported that investigators have largely reconstructed how the attack happened, pinning the blame on six people who allegedly used a yacht hired by a Ukrainian-owned company in Poland.

German officials reportedly searched a vessel suspected of carrying the explosives in January, but the investigation is ongoing.

The country’s defense minister suggested the explosions may have been a “false flag” attack to smear Ukraine.

See what others are saying: (The New York Times) (Associated Press) (Reuters)

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Turkey, Syria Earthquake Death Toll Rises to 41,000 as Survivors Pulled from Rubble

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A pair of brothers spent around 200 hours trapped under debris, living off of protein powder and their own urine.


A Humanitarian Crisis Explodes

The number of confirmed dead from the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria last week has surpassed 41,000.

Millions more people have been left stranded without adequate shelter, food, clean water, or medical supplies.

At night, the region has dropped to below-freezing temperatures.

Now health authorities are worried that the lack of sanitation infrastructure, which was damaged by the quakes, will lead to a disease outbreak.

“We haven’t been able to rinse off since the earthquake,” 21-year-old Mohammad Emin, whose home was destroyed, told Reuters.

He was helping out at a clinic serving displaced people in an open-air stadium, but with no showers and only six toilets, the resource shortage was poignant.

“They are offering tetanus shots to residents who request them, and distributing hygiene kits with shampoo, deodorant, pads and wipes,” added Akin Hacioglu, a doctor at the clinic.

The World Health Organization monitors the population for waterborne diseases like cholera and typhoid, as well as seasonal influenza and COVID-19.

Rescuers Race Against the Clock

After more than a week of searching, hopes that more living victims will be found amid the collapsed buildings are fading, but rescuers continue to pull out the final few survivors.

Abdulbaki Yeninar, 21, and his brother Muhammed Enes Yeninar, 17, spent about 200 hours under rubble in the city of Kahramanmaras before they were extracted Tuesday. They told reporters they held on by eating protein powder, drinking their own urine, and swallowing gulps of air.

In the same city, teams dug a 16-foot tunnel through debris to rescue a woman, and to the south, a volunteer mining crew joined the efforts to save another.

With no homes to go back to, some survivors have joined the ranks of volunteers themselves.

In the past week, more than 35,000 Turkish search-and-rescue teams worked alongside thousands of international workers in the effort, according to Turkey’s emergency management agency.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has called the earthquakes the “disaster of the century” and said in a statement that at least 13,000 people were being treated in hospitals.

The death toll is expected to rise even further in the coming weeks.

See what others are saying: (The New York Times) (Reuters) (Al Jazeera)

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