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Elon Musk speaks during a live interview with Ben Shapiro at an antisemitism symposium hosted by the European Jewish Association in Krakow, Poland, Jan. 22, 2024.
Investigation

Meet The Think Tanks Behind MAGA’s New Free Speech Crackdown

Archives for April 2025

From the United States to Europe, Criticizing Israel Is Becoming a Crime

Accelerated after October 7, a growing network of laws across the Western world threatens free expression by conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism — a trend years in the making.

Kit Klarenberg
By Kit Klarenberg
NYPD officers arrest a woman as pro-Palestine and pro-Israel protesters clash outside Baruch College in New York, June 5, 2024. Melissa Bender | AP

Across the United States and much of the West, criticism of Israel and solidarity with Palestine are increasingly being criminalized—a project long championed by Israel’s government and its powerful lobbying networks. In February 2020, Israeli leader and internationally wanted war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu proudly declared that Tel Aviv had

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Defections Rock UAE-Backed Forces in Yemen as Trump’s War Plan Falters

Yemen’s pro-coalition forces are losing ground, as defectors and public unrest weaken Saudi-U.S. control over the south.

Robert Inlakesh
By Robert Inlakesh
Houthi supporters chant slogans during an anti-U.S. and anti-Israel rally in Sanaa, Yemen, April 18, 2025.

Around 100 officers from the UAE-backed National Resistance Forces (NRF) in Yemen have defected to join Ansar Allah, delivering a major blow to U.S. and Gulf-backed efforts inside the country. The development comes amid threats of a U.S.-supported ground offensive and intensified American airstrikes against civilian targets. On Sunday,

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Trump’s Yemen Surge: How Policy from DC Think Tanks Brought Famine Roaring Back

With Washington think tanks shaping Trump’s latest Yemen strategy, aid cuts and escalated attacks are pushing millions of civilians back to the brink of famine, humanitarian groups warn.

Robert Inlakesh
By Robert Inlakesh
Yemenis gather at Al Mashhad cemetery in Sanaa to bury victims of U.S. airstrikes, April 23, 2025.

President Donald Trump’s new Yemen campaign is driving what experts call a spiraling humanitarian disaster, nearly doubling the previous administration’s costs while slashing aid and intensifying airstrikes. Under pressure from powerful Washington think tanks, Trump has sharply increased airstrikes, cut $107 million in aid, and designated

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What Do Congo’s Minerals and a Shadowy Prison Deal Have in Common? Erik Prince

Congo’s minerals, El Salvador’s prisons, and Trump’s war on dissent—Erik Prince is quietly at the center of it all.

Robert Inlakesh
By Robert Inlakesh

Erik Prince, the controversial founder of Blackwater and longtime ally of Donald Trump, is mounting a major comeback. He has secured a new deal to “protect” the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) lucrative mineral sector and is pitching a privatized prison complex in El Salvador that critics say echoes Guantanamo Bay. In a letter dated Feb. 8,

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Facing Prison Time in Germany for Criticizing an Israeli Journalist: The Case of Hüseyin Dogru

Journalist Hüseyin Dogru faces prison time and could see his family deported over a viral sticker criticizing an Israeli reporter.

Alan Macleod
By Alan Macleod
Baroque frame holding a protest sticker of Nicholas Potter, cradled in hands painted with the German flag

Amid a crackdown on pro-Palestine voices in Germany, a journalist regularly attacked as a Russian operative is facing up to three years in prison for defamation of an Israel-based journalist. Hüseyin Dogru, founder of red. media, has been charged with defamation for actions relating to a spat with Nicholas Potter, a German state-funded reporter

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Wiz Acquisition Puts Israeli Intelligence In Charge of Your Google Data

Google’s $32 billion purchase of Wiz hands its global data security to an Israeli firm founded and staffed by ex-military cyber spies from the IDF’s notorious Unit 8200.

Alan Macleod
By Alan Macleod
Assaf Rappaport and Benjamin Netanyahu in front of a cloud data network background, Google’s Wiz acquisition and ties to Israeli intelligence.

Google recently announced it would acquire Israeli-American cloud security firm Wiz for $32 billion. The price tag — 65 times Wiz’s annual revenue — has raised eyebrows and further solidified the close relationship between Google and the Israeli military. In its press release, the Silicon Valley giant claimed that the purchase will “vastly

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