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.

Why The NYPD Is Cracking Down On Anti-Police Brutality Protests

NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton’s hope that demonstrations against police killings would “peter out” has apparently fallen flat.

Joe Catron
By Joe Catron
A man is carried by police officers as arrests are made near Union Square, Wednesday, April 29, 2015, in New York. People gathered to protest the death of Freddie Gray, a Baltimore man who was critically injured in police custody.

A man is carried by police officers as arrests are made near Union Square, Wednesday, April 29, 2015, in New York. People gathered to protest the death of Freddie Gray, a Baltimore man who was critically injured in police custody. NEW YORK --- When several thousand protesters gathered in Union Square on April 29 for the biggest local

Read Full Article

Israel’s Gaza Onslaught Targeted Children And UN Shelters

As Israel faces mounting criticism over its killings of at least 44 Palestinians in six UN shelters and 547 children overall last summer, 100,000 in Gaza remain displaced as “not a single destroyed home has been rebuilt.”

Joe Catron
By Joe Catron
Palestinian children sit next to hanged clothes, on the First day of Eid al-Fitr in a United Nations school where dozens of families have sought refuge after fleeing their homes in fear of Israeli airstrikes, in the Jabaliya refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip. A U.N. inquiry has found that at least 44 Palestinians were killed and at least 227 injured by "Israeli actions" while sheltering at U.N. locations during last year's Gaza war. Secretary Ban Ki-moon said Monday, April 27, 2015, he deplores the deaths and calls U.N. locations "inviolable."

Palestinian children sit next to hanged clothes, on the First day of Eid al-Fitr in a United Nations school where dozens of families have sought refuge after fleeing their homes in fear of Israeli airstrikes, in the Jabaliya refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip. A U.N. inquiry has found that at least 44 Palestinians were killed and at least 227

Read Full Article

On Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, New Report Shows Corporate Role In Israeli Torture

As Israel cracks down on protests, Palestinians call for international support to thousands of political prisoners and researchers release a new report detailing corporate complicity in the Israeli prison system.

Joe Catron
By Joe Catron
Women participate in a sit-in, held weekly by families of Palestinians detained by Israel in the courtyard of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)'s Gaza Strip headquarters.

Women participate in a sit-in, held weekly by families of Palestinians detained by Israel in the courtyard of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)'s Gaza Strip headquarters. NEW YORK --- As supporters of Palestinians held by Israel demonstrated across Palestine and beyond to mark the 41st Palestinian Prisoners’ Day on Friday,

Read Full Article

Making History: Taking Palestine To Capitol Hill

During the first ever “Palestine Advocacy Day,” American Muslims for Palestine held a full day of meetings with congressional staff last week to advocate for Palestine and against U.S. military aid to Israel.

Joe Catron
By Joe Catron
Volunteers from several chapters of the American Muslims for Palestine participated in nearly 50 meetings on Capitol Hill on April 13 and 14, 2015.

Volunteers from several chapters of the American Muslims for Palestine participated in nearly 50 meetings on Capitol Hill on April 13 and 14, 2015. WASHINGTON --- The American Muslims for Palestine, a national organization launched in 2005, held a rare event last Tuesday: a day of meetings with congressional staff in the U.S. Capitol to

Read Full Article

Holy Week: Black Lives Matter Protests Target NYPD Funding (PHOTOS)

Billions in appropriations are “the most systemic cause” of killings and other violence by police, Holy Week marchers in New York say.

Joe Catron
By Joe Catron

All photos and reporting for this article were created by Joe Catron for MintPress News. NEW YORK --- Demonstrations against the New York Police Department’s killings of Eric Garner and Akai Gurley, as well as the deaths of other black people at the hands of law enforcement agencies across the country, surged through downtown Manhattan early

Read Full Article

Pro-Israel Funders Target Surging Israeli Apartheid Week

As the global mobilization in solidarity with Palestinians grows, a new report traces cash from the ultra-wealthy donors who seek to torpedo the anti-apartheid, pro-peace movement.

Joe Catron
By Joe Catron
A UC Berkley student protesting Israeli apartheid, Berkley, California. Sept, 2014.

Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine organized a mock Israeli Checkpoint to raise awareness of human rights abuses and subsequent obstruction of education. In respose, pro Israeli groups on campus handed out a factsheet describing checkpoints as a "necessary evil" essential for preventing terrorist attacks. NEW YORK --- As the eleventh

Read Full Article

How US Taxpayers Subsidize Israeli Settlements

“These settlements, and the occupation more broadly, are financially unsustainable on their own, and must be propped up by far right-wing Jewish and Christian Zionist funds from abroad,” a member of a group campaigning against the practice told MintPress News.

Joe Catron
By Joe Catron

US Evangelist John Hagee, center, leads a march of Christians in support of Israel in Jerusalem, Monday April 7, 2008. Photo: Peter Dejong/AP NEW YORK --- As U.S. taxpayers prepare to send to Israel another $3.1 billion of their earnings, plus loan guarantees, discounted weaponry and other perks, two campaigns aim to shed light on

Read Full Article