Joe Catron

Joe Catron is a MintPress News contributing journalist. He covers Palestine and Israel and other human rights issues. Catron has written frequently for Electronic Intifada and Middle East Eye, and co-edited The Prisoners' Diaries: Palestinian Voices from the Israeli Gulag, an anthology of accounts by detainees freed in the 2011 prisoner exchange.

Fordham University’s Ban On Palestinian Rights Group Sets Dangerous Precedent

‘As far as we’re aware, this is the first time a college has summarily banned a group supporting Palestinian rights before students even held their first meeting,’ an attorney representing those hoping to establish a Students for Justice in Palestine group at Fordham told MintPress News.

Joe Catron
By Joe Catron
Students and supporters protest Fordham University’s ban on Students for Justice in Palestine, a student group which advocates the rights of Palestinians. (Photo: Joe Catron/MintPress)

NEW YORK --- Nearly a hundred students and community members rallied on Fordham University’s Manhattan campus before marching to nearby Columbus Circle on Monday. The protest marked the latest chapter in an ongoing effort by students at the Jesuit institution to found a chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine on their campus. SJP

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Protesters & Police Go Full Force At DC Protests Of Trump Inauguration

The weekend’s protests marked the largest demonstration against a presidential inauguration for at least a generation, as well as the biggest political mobilization in US history.

Joe Catron
By Joe Catron
A protester stands in front of a riot police line during a demonstration after the inauguration of President Donald Trump, Friday, Jan. 20, 2017, in Washington. (AP/John Minchillo)

WASHINGTON --- Thousands protested the incoming presidency of Donald Trump on Friday in the largest demonstration against a presidential inauguration for at least a generation, since Vietnam War protesters disrupted Richard Nixon’s second inaugural parade in 1973. Together with simultaneous demonstrations across the United States, as well as

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Trump’s Inauguration Weekend Could See Biggest Nationwide Mobilization In US History

Thousands of protesters will participate in demonstrations planned for all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries.

Joe Catron
By Joe Catron
Demonstrators holds banners and signs as they protest during a march in downtown Washington in opposition of President-elect Donald Trump, Sunday, Jan. 15, 2017. (AP/Jose Luis Magana)

NEW YORK --- As thousands of protesters begin pouring into Washington to protest the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump on Friday, others have planned simultaneous demonstrations across the United States. “There have been a wave of protests and walkouts across the country since Trump was announced as president-elect, mostly by students

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As Obama Moves To Free Manning & Rivera, Others Still Hope For Clemency

President Obama commuted the sentences of Chelsea Manning and Oscar López Rivera on Tuesday as other political prisoners — many held for decades on charges related to black and Native American movements — make their final pushes for clemency under Obama.

Joe Catron
By Joe Catron
Marchers carry a large painting of American Indian Leonard Peltier during a "National Day of Mourning," Thursday, Nov. 22, 2001, in Plymouth, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

NEW YORK --- As supporters celebrated the White House’s announcement on Tuesday that President Barack Obama had commuted the sentence of Puerto Rican icon Oscar López Rivera, convicted of seditious conspiracy in 1981 for his role in the pro-independence Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional, others sentenced on political charges decades ago are

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Israel’s Killing & Detention Of Palestinian Children Reached New Heights In 2016

Israel’s killings and detentions of Palestinian children, demolitions of their homes, and restrictions on their travel and economy all reached dramatic heights last year.

Joe Catron
By Joe Catron
The father of two-year-old, Rahaf Hassan, weeps as he holds her body after she and her 30-year-old mother pregnant mother, Noor Hassan, were killed in Israeli air strike in the Gaza Strip (AP/ Khalil Hamra)

UNITED NATIONS --- Israel’s attacks on Palestinian children increased dramatically in 2016, with Palestinian human rights groups and United Nations agencies documenting sharp escalations in killings and detentions of children in the occupied West Bank, demolitions of Palestinian property, and restrictions on Palestinians -- primarily children -- in

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US Support For Palestine Shifts As Obama Abstains From UN Vote On Israeli Settlements

51% of young voters and 60% of Democrats want economic sanctions against Israel over its illegal settlement construction in the occupied West Bank.

Joe Catron
By Joe Catron
Protesters demonstrate against a state-sanctioned backlash against the movement for Palestinian human rights after Gov. Cuomo signed a McCarthyite executive order requiring state agencies to divest from organizations that support the Palestinian call to boycott companies profiting from, or cultural or academic institutions complicit in, Israel's oppression of the Palestinian people. (Photo: Erik McGregor/Pacific Press/ Sipa via AP)

UNITED NATIONS --- The United States’ abstention from a Security Council vote condemning Israel’s West Bank settlements on Friday followed a sharp rise in support for Palestinians among U.S. voters, particularly members of President Barack Obama’s Democratic Party. “American attitudes on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” two polls released by

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Anti-Trump Organizers Plan Massive ‘J20’ Event To Mark Inauguration Day

Organizers of inauguration protests speak to MintPress News about Jan. 20 and the prospects for mobilization under the Trump administration.

Joe Catron
By Joe Catron
Protesters hold signs during a protest against the election of President-elect Donald Trump, Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2016, in downtown Seattle.

NEW YORK --- Thousands of protesters who have mobilized nationally since the election of Donald Trump are planning a massive convergence in Washington against the presidential inauguration on Jan. 20. “We believe that we are entering a new period of mass mobilization in the United States,” Walter Smolarek, a spokesperson for the ANSWER

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