It would have been easy for Greta Thunberg to become controlled opposition. Sure, she could continue to do environmental and political activism, but within the safe confines of vetted speeches, opinion pieces in newspapers, and appearing as a talking head whenever news networks need an environmentalist viewpoint.

So it’s to her immense credit that she repeatedly puts her money where her mouth is. Over the past week, she’s been the highest-profile crew member aboard the Madleen, which was on a mission to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza and deliver aid to Gaza. The current situation in Gaza is described as beyond nightmarish: Israel is tightly restricting all aid entering the area, starving the populace, and shooting civilians queuing for the few morsels they’re allowing in.

Thunberg’s mission, aboard the Freedom Flotilla Coalition boat, was to raise awareness of this “starvation crisis”. Now, as of the early hours of this morning, Israel’s military has intercepted the Madleen and detained those on board from bringing any aid to the starving people of Gaza.

"My name is Greta Thunberg and I am from Sweden. If you see this video, we have been intercepted and kidnapped in international waters by the Israeli occupational forces, or forces that Israel." pic.twitter.com/Ku7QILHpfd

— Prem Thakker (@prem_thakker) June 9, 2025

Thunberg and the crew were ready for this possibility, with her releasing a pre-recorded message that says: “If you see this video, we have been intercepted and kidnapped in international waters”. This is indeed the case, with Thunberg and the crew now having been transported to Israel. Their current whereabouts are unknown, as is the nature of their interrogation and internment.

“Arbitrary, unlawful, and must end immediately”

Human rights lawyer and Freedom Flotilla organizer Huwaida Arraf is horrified: This seizure blatantly violates international law and defies the ICJ’s binding orders requiring unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza. These volunteers are not subject to Israeli jurisdiction and cannot be criminalised for delivering aid or challenging an illegal blockade – their detention is arbitrary, unlawful, and must end immediately.”

Many will be overjoyed that Thunberg was prevented from delivering aid. As the trip began, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham hoped that the ship would be destroyed by Israeli forces, with his violent rhetoric echoed by many whose fondest wish is apparently to see Thunberg’s corpse floating amidst the charred wreckage of the Madleen.

We can only hope that Thunberg and the crew will be released as soon as possible. Whether this is mission accomplished for them is up for debate. On one hand, Israel has successfully stopped their mission. On the other hand, the world is now focused on their crimes against the people of Palestine and their brutal treatment of anyone who even peacefully opposes them.

Meanwhile, Thunberg’s stature only grows, and I can only salute her bravery for living up to her principles and putting herself directly in harm’s way. That’s courage.

No humanitarian aid has reached Palestinians in Gaza despite Israel‘s recent agreement to allow a minimal amount of supplies into the enclave. The agreement came after Israel faced mounting international criticism for its blockade amid growing warnings of an impending famine in Gaza.

According to UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, “a few dozen” trucks carrying flour, medicines, and nutrition supplies were permitted to through the Israeli fence into the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom crossing. However, according to The Washington Post, aid workers were unable to transport these supplies to warehouses as Israeli officials made them wait several hours for access and required them to unload and reload the supplies onto separate trucks. The aid workers ran out of time before dark, leaving the supplies stranded.

The situation highlights the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where civilians like Wissam, a father of six displaced to the tented area of Mawasi in southern Gaza Strip, struggle to feed their families. Wissam can only provide his family with one meal per day, consisting of lentils served at 11:45 in the morning, without bread due to flour shortages lasting over a month. “I hope that it comes soon,” he said, referring to the aid being held at the border. “We need it to survive.”

International pressure mounts as minimal aid proves insufficient

Israel has faced increasing pressure from allies to lift its blockade on Gaza. Britain suspended free trade negotiations with Israel, while European Union member states pledged to review commercial ties, urging Israel to allow more aid into Gaza. The blockade had been implemented since March 2, described by Israel as an attempt to pressure Hamas into releasing remaining hostages.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently stated that “minimal” aid deliveries would be permitted into Gaza “for practical and diplomatic reasons,” noting that Israel’s allies had told him they could not “handle pictures of mass starvation.” However, aid organization Médecins Sans Frontières criticized the move, calling the “ridiculously inadequate amount of aid” a “smokescreen to pretend the siege is over.”

In a separate development, the United Arab Emirates reached an agreement with Israeli authorities to deliver food into Gaza. The initial phase of this agreement aims to address the food needs of 15,000 people. Meanwhile, Palestinians anxiously await aid in hopes it will alleviate inflation that has significantly increased prices for basic necessities such as flour. Despite these developments, military operations continue, with the Israeli Air Force reporting over 115 strikes throughout Gaza in a single day, alongside naval strikes in northern Gaza conducted in cooperation with ground troops.

It’s difficult to comprehend the true horror of what’s happening in the Gaza Strip right now. Israel has turned this cramped urban area into a killing field, preventing food and water from reaching starving citizens and continually bombarding the already destroyed city, with the UN warning that 14,000 babies are facing a miserable death.

Those still alive are starving and dying of thirst in the rubble of their homes as the death toll skyrockets, with tragic confirmation arriving this morning that a week-old baby was amongst last night’s casualties.

Even Israel’s staunchest allies are appalled. Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert said that Israel’s current actions are “very close to a war crime” (I think we’re already way past “very close” buddy), countries like , the United Kingdom and Canada are rapidly retracting , and retired Israeli general Yair Golan said: “A sane country doesn’t engage in fighting against civilians, doesn’t kill babies as a hobby and doesn’t set for itself the goals of expelling a population.”

Astonishingly, this is not a view shared by this Israeli politician. Moshe Feiglin, the leader of the Zehut party, gave an interview on the situation in Gaza and explained his unbashedly pro-baby-killing stance, saying (in Hebrew, translated to English), “Every child, every baby in Gaza is an enemy”:

משה פייגלין בערוץ 14: "כל תינוק בעזה הוא אויב"https://t.co/aJTGF66AsI

— מעריב אונליין (@MaarivOnline) May 20, 2025

To make sure he’s not being misunderstood, Feiglin underlined his views:  “The enemy is not Hamas, nor is it the military wing of Hamas, as our military commander tells us, that we are forbidden to harm a Hamasnik unless he is part of the military wing. Every child in Gaza is the enemy. We need to occupy Gaza and settle it, and not a single Gazan child will be left there. There is no other victory.”

How can anyone this?

At this point, you may be able to figure out why Israel’s ers are currently having a serious crisis of conscience. After all, it’s one thing to wholeheartedly Israel “defending itself” from armed militants, it’s quite another to nakedly say that the IDF must exterminate babies and children to achieve victory.

Whether there will ever be any consequences for barbaric and monstrous comments like these remains to be seen. In an ideal world, itting this would give you a one-way ticket to the Hague to face charges of crimes against humanity. But, as you may have noticed given the horrible news emerging from Gaza each day, we don’t live in an ideal world.

All we can hope is that the wheels of justice are indeed turning slowly and that people who cheerlead the destruction of infants as a way to illegally seize territory face justice. In the meantime, if you’re frantically trying to figure out a way to justify this, don’t bother. These are words straight from the mouth of an Israeli politician, reflecting the very real reality on the ground in Gaza. If you what Israel is doing, you this. Own it.

The Gaza Strip is currently the worst place in the world. Israel’s 11-week “aid blockade” has resulted in a man-made famine, compounded by constant bombardment of the already smashed city, with the UN giving the urgent warning that unless urgent steps are taken, within the next 48 hours, 14,000 babies will die.

It’s gotten to the point where even the most steadfast defenders of Israel have begun to look at themselves and wonder, “…are we the baddies"> for Israel is plummeting while sympathy for Palestinians is reaching new highs. Sadly, the Trump istration is firmly locked in behind Netanyahu’s plans to ethnically cleanse Gaza of its residents and build a holiday resort on top of their bones.

Where we go from here is unknown, though it seems likely that widespread revulsion of Israel will continue to increase as the reality of what they’re inflicting on civilians sinks in. Whether that can ever translate into action against Israel or whether the “genocidal maniacs” that run the country will face consequences for their crimes remains to be seen.

Who doesn’t want to root for a brave ragtag resistance going up against an advanced superpower? This is basically the essence of Star Wars: seeing the evil Empire being defeated by the cunning, courageous, and charismatic Rebellion.

Well, Star Wars is effectively taking place in Yemen right now, with the Houthi rebels having spent years fighting on behalf of oppressed Palestinians against the combined technological might of the US Navy and Israel. Impressively, they’re not doing too badly given the massive power imbalance, with the US having to resort to the negotiating table to agree a ceasefire.

Now they have a fan in the most unexpected place: the White House. Donald Trump has just gushed in iring about their bravery and resilience, telling the press:

“You know, we hit them very hard. They had a great capacity to withstand punishment. They took tremendous punishment. You can say there’s a lot of bravery there…It was amazing what they took. But we honor their commitment and their word.”

Donald Trump praises Houthis’ “bravery"

“You know, we hit them very hard. They had a great capacity to withstand punishment. They took tremendous punishment. You can say there’s a lot of bravery there…It was amazing what they took. But we honor their commitment and their word.” pic.twitter.com/XS1ChpFKd7

— Prem Thakker (@prem_thakker) May 7, 2025

The Houthis themselves have reasons to be cheerful about the ceasefire. Their chief negotiator Mohammed Abdul Salam, said, “What changed is the American position, but our position remains firm”, underlining their commitment to the Palestinian people “will not change”, and confirming that the agreed ceasefire doesn’t include stopping action against Israel.

“Israel is not gonna like this”

MAGA appears bewildered by Trump suddenly praising a group that’s been thoroughly demonized in the U.S. press, insisting he’s behaving like “Roman historians praising the virtues of their defeated enemies” or that Trump is simply saying this “to prepare our soldiers“. Others are taking a more realistic view, wondering “Does this guy even know why he’s bombing the Houthis?” and pointing out “Israel is not gonna like this.“

But just because tempers have cooled between the Houthis and the United States, expect tensions to massively increase between the Houthis and Israel very soon. Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich has promised that Gaza will be “completely destroyed” and ethnically cleansed, vowing that soon there will be no Palestinians at all there.

Global anger and condemnation are rising against this genocidal plan, so expect the ceasefire to be pushed to breaking point soon. But, either way, it certainly sounds like Trump has a soft spot for the Houthis and is impressed by their courage and tenacity. Whether that affection will last remains to be seen, but for now, maybe the prospect of Houthi leaders enjoying a polite sit-down in the Oval Office to meet their newest star-struck fan isn’t a complete impossibility.

Israel‘s reputation is in tatters, but I guess doing a genocide will achieve that. All around the world, people are still taking to the streets to protest their brutal military action and starvation tactics in the Gaza Strip and things have reached the point that, even in America, a majority of people now do not sympathize with Israelis.

But a new BBC documentary may be set to crater public opinion even more. Acclaimed documentarian Louis Theroux has just released The Settlers, in which he travels through the West Bank interviewing gun-toting Israeli settlers determined to flout international law and steal Palestinian homes and land.

What follows is a horror show of petty cruelty, homicidal religious fervor, and casual plans for brutal ethnic cleansing. Theroux’s tactic is simply to point his camera at these people and let them explain their philosophy – and in doing so, you peer into some truly scary minds.

Louis Theroux: "But to think about other people, other children not at all? That seems sociopathic"

Daniella Weiss: "No. Not at all, this is normal"

“The settlers” Documentary by Louis Theroux pic.twitter.com/K8HZNrlv91 https://t.co/91pQjORn5K

— Khalissee (@Kahlissee) April 28, 2025

Of his subjects, none is more repulsive than 79-year-old Daniella Weiss, who didn’t bat an eyelid as she rolled out a map to reveal how (with the full of the Israeli government) she intends to carry out a program of ethnic cleansing on people she doesn’t even consider as human beings. In a later interview, making some bizarre point about violence, she physically shoves Theroux in a failed effort to make him retaliate in kind. All Theroux can do is dub her, frankly, a sociopath.

And, judging by the universal response on social media, pretty much everyone agrees:

This is a difficult watch but necessary. The arrogance of the settlers and IDF is astounding. The dehumanising language used when they speak of Palestinians is awful, especially from the mouth of a Rabbi and there is something of the devil about Daniella Weiss. https://t.co/DvJCjaihFx

— Alison Morris (@alimorris356) April 27, 2025

I think Daniella Weiss is actually insane. I don't say this lightly. She seems totally divorced from reality. #louistheroux #thesettlers

— s 'Cassandra' Coppola (@s_Coppola) April 27, 2025

I'm watching Louis Theroux – The Settlers.

The level of psychopathy of these "settlers" is disturbing. Louis appears quite shocked.

Settler boss Daniella Weiss speaks like a possessed woman but I do know what it is. She's a mafia boss convinced that she's very powerful. pic.twitter.com/kYONic8kkB

— Luca Soci (@Luca_soci) April 28, 2025

Louis Theroux is a brilliant documentary maker. He so easily leads these Zionists down the garden path and it doesn’t take them two minutes to completely expose themselves as evil. Daniella Weiss is terrifying. #TheSettlers

— beffy (@beffybadbelly) April 29, 2025

Daniela Weiss is a complete racist psychopath. Incredible documentary by Louis Theroux. Brazen content for humanity all driven by zealous religocity. So sad. #thesettlers

— Paolo (@Skeptichead) April 27, 2025

The bizarre cherry on top of this is that Israel nominated her for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize! As you might expect, Theroux is now being pilloried on social media for the crime of putting these people on camera and letting them explain themselves. Here’s hoping this documentary opens some eyes on what it really means to Israel, and the daily nightmare of life as a Palestinian in the West Bank and Gaza.

You’d be hard-pressed to find someone less offensive than Ms. Rachel. On a YouTube riddled with upsetting, bizarre, and predatory videos she’s a beacon of light, providing a series of catchy educational tunes about colors, shapes and animals. To the parents of under fives she’s a godsend, using her degrees in Music Therapy and Master’s in Music Education to make the world a happier place.

Alternatively, if you listen to watchdog StopAntisemitism, Ms Rachel is single-handedly raising a generation of Hamas-loving terrorists hellbent on the destruction of the Western world, is trying to inspire full-blown hatred of Jewish people, and is a die-hard Islamist propagandist.

Leave Ms.Rachel alone…. pic.twitter.com/hRQPHnM3oY

— WearThePeace (@WearThePeaceCo) April 9, 2025

As such, StopAntisemitism has written a letter to Attorney-General Pam Bondi demanding that Ms. Rachel be investigated as a Hamas agent: “Ms. Rachel is being remunerated to disseminate Hamas-aligned propaganda to her millions of followers, as this may violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA)”.

The bee in their bonnet is a few videos posted to Ms. Rachel’s Instagram in which she uh, begs that Palestinian children have access to food and water. Clearly, she is history’s greatest monster.

It is undeniable that Israel’s continued attacks on Gaza City have resulted in the deaths of thousands of innocent children. Though many bodies still lie beneath the rubble, it’s estimated that indiscriminate bombing of civilian neighborhoods, intentional withholding of aid, and destruction of medical facilities have resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of children. The exact figure is impossible to know, though in Mar. 2024, the UN indicated that 12,300 children had been killed over just the preceding four months.

All of which feels like something a children’s advocate and educator probably should be paying attention to! Ms. Rachel has previously raised money on Cameo for emergency funds to help children in Sudan, Ukraine, Gaza and the Democratic Republic of Congo, going on to underline that:

“I care deeply for all children. Palestinian children, Israeli children, children in the US — Muslim, Jewish, Christian children — all children, in every country. Not one is excluded. think part of why people respond to the show is they feel that care – I see every child as I see my own. I love every neighbor. Any child suffering is on my heart. To do a fundraiser for children who are currently starving — who have no food or water — who are being killed — is human.”

Ordinarily the allegations against Ms. Rachel would be laughed out of the room. Unfortunately, we live under the shadow of the Trump istration, which appears to see full-throated for Israel as a prerequisite for being American – and any sympathy for Palestinians as a reason to persecute you.

Most people would probably pause and wonder if they’re really on the side of good when trying to take down a kid’s YouTuber for raising money to feed starving children. But, sadly, the overly theatrical evil is the point. After all, if they’ll take down Ms. Rachel as a Hamas-funded foreign agent, what will they do to you?

It’s been a rough week for Studio Ghibli fans. Last week, OpenAI released their GPT-4o update, which includes a new feature that lets s convert images into a mock-Ghibli aesthetic, resulting in a torrent of Ghiblified slop.

Over on OpenAISea.com they underline that this isn’t an “official collaboration between OpenAI and Studio Ghibli” (duh) but that the model has been “trained on an extensive dataset of artistic styles, enabling it to remarkably recreate the Studio Ghibli aesthetic”. I.e., they stole it.

Studio Ghibli and its resident animation legend Hayao Miyazaki have spent decades painstakingly creating animated features with themes of environmentalism, empathic humanism, and a general sense of wonder for the natural world. Now that has been poured into the AI grinder and reduced to a filter that generates soulless images.

Fans were left nauseated after The White House posted their own Ghibli-style image showing a woman being arrested by ICE Agents, and now the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) has tried to in. But it’s safe to say, it hasn’t worked out like they expected. Their original post was met by comments like “AI art, co-opted by fascists, being used by a fascist force to aestheticize their war crimes“, “miyazaki would be throwing up if he saw this“, and “The people committing a genocide not understanding the value of human creation? Who’s surprised“

Then a 2000lb bomb dropped in the form of a truly brutal ratio from @saccharinegreen, which has received 209k likes, leaving the IDF’s 16k likes in the dust:

studio ghibli already made a movie where children starve and die because an imperialist power wanted to go to war so there was no need for the ai. https://t.co/0LvwacgY7J pic.twitter.com/WH6K3lGbtV

— rhys (@saccharinegreen) March 30, 2025

Oof. The movie in question is Isao Takahata’s 1988 Grave of the Fireflies, which chronicles two war orphans desperately trying to survive the final months of World War II. Considered one of the greatest animated movies of all time (in 2018, USA Today ranked it the best animated film ever made) and a regular entry on all-time tearjerker movies of any genre.

With thousands of children already killed and aid blocked from entering Gaza, the events of Grave of the Fireflies are currently playing out for Palestinian children. It’s too much to hope that anyone ordering these atrocities will have any moral quandaries or feel guilty about what they’re doing, but perhaps just a few people will have an “are we the baddies">

Perhaps the best we can hope is that the Ghibli filter fad burns out as quickly as it began and we can stop seeing the Literal Worst People in the World crowing over the exploitation of artists who’ve poured their souls into decades of work.

It’s horrifying to it, but the barbaric and homicidal treatment of Palestinians by Israel has been a fixture of the news for long it’s almost background noise. Sure, you feel sad when you read about the IDF bombing a hospital, children being executed in the street by Israeli snipers, or the ongoing war crime of preventing aid reaching starving people, but you can only feel so much despair.

But, sometimes, a story cuts through all that. Last night the shocking news emerged that Oscar-winning filmmaker Hamden Ballal, whose film No Other Land won the Best Documentary Feature Film earlier this month, had been attacked by Israeli settlers and has now disappeared.

The story emerged via No Other Land‘s co-director Yuval Abraham, who posted the following disturbing message:

A group of settlers just lynched Hamdan Ballal, co director of our film no other land. They beat him and he has injuries in his head and stomach, bleeding. Soldiers invaded the ambulance he called, and took him. No sign of him since.

— Yuval Abraham יובל אברהם (@yuval_abraham) March 24, 2025

No Other Land is about settlers illegally stealing homes and land from Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, with one of the film’s other directors Basel Adra believing the attack is retaliation for the Oscar win: “Palestinians in the village have been under physical attack by settlers almost daily. The settlers’ violence is increasing here. Maybe it’s a revenge for the movie and the Oscar.”

The ambulance that collected Ballal was stopped and invaded by IDF soldiers and he was apparently transported to a police station, where he was tortured:

After the assault, Hamdan was handcuffed and blindfolded all night in an army base while two soldiers beat him up on the floor, his lawyer Leah Tsemel said after speaking with him just now. He's still held in the Kiryat Arba police station.

— Yuval Abraham יובל אברהם (@yuval_abraham) March 25, 2025

The moment Hamdan Ballal was attacked by Israeli goons in the occupied West Bank. After this the #IOF abducted him. His whereabouts are still unknown. pic.twitter.com/sFUUOpaZHJ

— Lance Aksamit (@AksamitLance) March 25, 2025

Despite everything, you might feel optimistic that the entertainment industry would step up and demand action, or at least answers! After all, just weeks ago Ballal was awarded the highest honor in documentary filmmaking by a jury of industry titans. But, so far, there’s been surprisingly little for him – save for one man with a proud history of sticking his head about the parapet.

MCU legend Mark Ruffalo, Bruce Banner himself, took to Instagram to say that “this is an attack on our beloved art from [sic] of film making” and that “every film maker and academy member should be acting together in protest”:

Mark Ruffalo's comment on Hamdan Ballal getting attacked and abducted. pic.twitter.com/ZtZAWWV3P0

— Mohaned (@mohaned_mmfilm) March 25, 2025

Sigh, sometimes we wish he actually was the Hulk… Perhaps it’s unfair that this single incident, which is ultimately a drop of water in the vast ocean of fanatical genocide inflicted upon the Palestinian people, should rouse such feelings. Hamden Ballal is after all one man, and since Israel broke the ceasefire they’ve killed 400 men, women, and children with their indiscriminate bombing of Gaza.

However, something is particularly stomach-churning about a man beginning the month making an Oscars acceptance speech and ending it being brutally attacked and tortured as the world looks away. We can only pray that Ballal is still alive and that he’s freed soon.

Palestinian director Hamdan Ballal — one of four filmmakers who helmed the Oscar-winning documentary, No Other Land — has been attacked and arrested by of the Israeli army. 

According to five Jewish American activists who witnessed the incident, Ballal was surrounded and attacked by a masked and armed group of 15 Israeli settlers in his home in the Masafer Yatta area south of Hebron. Activist groups reached out to media outlets to describe the scene, which included stones being thrown, the destruction of a water tank near Ballal’s home, and the slashing of his car tyres and shattering of his windscreen.

Rolling Stone reports that Ballal’s home security cameras were stolen, and that some attackers carried batons, knives, and at least one assault rifle. The Israeli soldiers reportedly ambushed the ambulance Ballal had called in the midst of the attack, before chasing him into his home and turning him over to the military. Speaking to Rolling Stone, an activist group named the Center for Jewish Nonviolence said Ballal is currently being held at a police station, though details about his condition remain unclear.

The attack took place in an area south of West Bank, the very same location that was documented in No Other Land, a collaborative documentary between Israeli and Palestinian directors that covered the destruction of villages in the West Bank amid the ongoing conflict and war in Gaza. Speaking of the attack, co-director Yuval Abraham wrote on X that Israeli army “beat [Ballal] and he has injuries in his head and stomach, bleeding,” adding that there has been “no sign of him since” the attack. 

A group of settlers just lynched Hamdan Ballal, co director of our film no other land. They beat him and he has injuries in his head and stomach, bleeding. Soldiers invaded the ambulance he called, and took him. No sign of him since.

— Yuval Abraham יובל אברהם (@yuval_abraham) March 24, 2025

Meanwhile, Basel Adra — one of the other co-directors of the film, which took home the Academy’s top prize in the documentary category earlier this year — said the attack on Ballal may have been fuelled by the success of No Other Land. “The settlers’ violence is increasing here,” he told The Guardian, “maybe it’s a revenge for the movie and the Oscar,” Adra has himself been subject to similar incidents, having been surrounded and attacked by masked Israeli settlers last February. 

The Oscar win for No Other Land was divisive due to political sensitivities both in the region it documented and abroad. Viewers of the Academy Awards promptly noted the seeming unenthusiasm of the crowd when the movie was named Best Documentary, while, weeks later, the film became a source of controversy in the city of Miami Beach, Florida. Steven Meiner, the mayor of Miami Beach, attempted to terminate the lease of local theater O Cinema, in response to its decision to show No Other Land with screenings throughout March. 

Meiner wrote in a newsletter that the film is a “false one-sided propaganda attack on the Jewish people that is not consistent with the values of our City.” Ballal took to the Oscars stage to accept the trophy for No Other Land, while his co-director Abraham used the moment to speak on the impact of American foreign policy on the ongoing conflict in Gaza. As for Ballal’s current plight, the Israel Defense Forces told The Guardian it is looking into the incident of his attack and arrest.

A mayor in Florida is threatening to evict an independent cinema from city-owned property after it screened the recent Best Documentary Oscar winner, No Other Land. 

The film, which took home the trophy at the star-studded ceremony earlier this month, focuses on Palestinian displacement and the destruction of the occupied West Bank amid the ongoing Israel-Palestine war. Now, the mayor of Miami Beach, Steven Meiner, is attempting to terminate local theater O Cinema’s lease and withdraw $40,000 in promised grant funding, saying in a newsletter to residents that the film is “a false one-sided propaganda attack on the Jewish people that is not consistent with the values of our City.”

Meiner had previously urged the cinema to cancel its scheduled screenings of No Other Land while citing criticism from Israeli officials. While O Cinema CEO Vivian Marthell initially agreed to remove the film from its programming to avoid “concerns of antisemitic rhetoric,” she later reversed her decision, with the screenings of No Other Land promptly selling out. Now, additional dates for more showings of the documentary have been scheduled throughout the rest of this month. “Our decision to screen No Other Land is not a declaration of political alignment,” Marthell told Miami Herald. 

“It is, however, a bold reaffirmation of our fundamental belief that every voice deserves to be heard.” Marthell and Meiner aren’t the only ones to have weighed in on the debacle, with Miami Beach commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez saying she shares the mayor’s negative assessment of the film. Gonzalez did, however, warn against “knee jerk reaction” that could trigger “costly legal battles,” and made note of O Cinema’s “longstanding commitment to the Jewish community.” For his part, Daniel Tilley — the legal director of The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida — called Meiner’s reaction “unconstitutional.”

The mayor of Miami Beach is trying to end a lease agreement for an independent film theater after it screened Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land.

Disgusting work. https://t.co/UC7vTfCR5h pic.twitter.com/7PPai1vm7V

— Briahna Joy Gray (@briebriejoy) March 13, 2025

“The government does not get to pick and choose which viewpoints the public is allowed to hear, however controversial some might find them,” Tilley told Axios. It marks the most recent instance of controversy surrounding artistic expression in Miami Beach. Back in 2019, the city removed a portrait of Raymond Herisse — a Black man fatally shot by Beach police — from a city art project, sparking outrage among locals who deemed it wrongful censorship. 

No Other Land was a surprise win for Best Documentary at this year’s Academy Awards, since the film struggled to secure U.S. distribution due to political sensitivities surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Following its win, social media s noted the divisive response of some Oscars attendees, before its co-director used his acceptance speech to criticize the U.S.’ foreign policies. 

"No Other Land" director Basel Adra: "We call on the world to take serious actions to stop the injustice and to stop the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people." | #Oscars pic.twitter.com/NzoqLKiBSJ

— Variety (@Variety) March 3, 2025

“There is a political solution without ethnic supremacy,” Yuval Abraham said, “but the foreign policy in this country is helping to block this path.” It comes amid an already tumultuous period for the warring nations, as President Donald Trump last month proposed plans to “take over” the Gaza strip, and shared an AI-generated video of his “vision” for the war-torn regions. Meiner’s proposal to cancel O Cinema’s lease is set for a commission vote next Wednesday.    

First, it was Greenland. Then came his bizarre musings about the Panama Canal, and, for reasons no one can explain, Canada. Now, Donald Trump has set his sights on Gaza — one of the most politically volatile, war-ravaged, and contested strips of land in the entire world.

Somehow, in the mind of the former property shark, solving one of the most complex, generations-spanning conflicts in modern history involves kicking out its 1.8 million residents, and turning it into a Middle Eastern Malibu. On Feb. 4, 2024, Trump boldly announced that the “U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip.” Standing next to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump described his grand vision: “We’ll own it… We have an opportunity to do something that could be phenomenal… the Riviera of the Middle East.”

Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, also floated the idea last year. Kushner called Gaza’s coastline “very valuable” and suggested “cleaning it up.”  He sees it as a waterfront property. Essentially, the plan is to evict an entire population like they’re tenants who forgot to pay the rent. And where should they go? According to Trump, they should just… go somewhere else. Other countries, maybe? Camps? The moon? Who knows. Gaza is seen by Palestinians as an integral part of their future state, alongside the West Bank. Trump’s plan essentially tells them to just give up on that dream.

Trump didn’t bother providing any specifics about how this grand plan would actually, you know, work. Arab and Palestinian leaders rejected it outright, seeing it as yet another slap in the face to their dreams of statehood. Hamas, already in the middle of tense negotiations with Israel after a brutal 15-month war, obviously wasn’t thrilled at the prospect of their people being forcibly relocated. Even Israel, which has long struggled with its own Gaza policies, isn’t exactly jumping at the idea of Uncle Sam rolling in and turning the Strip into a beachfront resort.

Rebuilding Gaza is necessary

The place has been devastated by years of war, neglect, and blockades. There are literal mountains of rubble, unexploded bombs waiting to claim more lives, and no reliable water, electricity, or infrastructure. Schools are gone. Hospitals are gone. Homes are gone. That doesn’t mean it’s open season for anyone with a savior complex to swoop in and claim it as their next big “project.”

There are people here living in unimaginable conditions. It’s their home. Their land. Their lives. And the fact that anyone, let alone Trump, thinks they can just roll up, bulldoze the rubble and the people is as offensive as it is absurd. What’s even more insulting is the mindset behind it. To look at a place that’s been battered and broken by decades of violence and suffering and think, “You know what this needs? A rebrand.”

What Gaza needs is justice. ability. A chance for its people to rebuild their lives—not be shoved aside, erased, or treated like an unfortunate inconvenience in the way of some billionaire’s fantasy of a Mediterranean playground. Let’s that the the U.S. has zero legal claim to Gaza. None. Zilch. So how exactly does Trump plan to “take over?” Military intervention? A hostile takeover? A strongly worded tweet? Who knows. What we do know is that this plan is as unworkable as it is unethical.

The U.S. has been playing puppet master in the Middle East for generations. From overthrowing governments to propping up dictators, they’ve meddled in every corner of the region — not to help, but to exploit. Oil, arms deals, geopolitical power plays — it’s all just a game. Iraq? Turned into a wasteland. Syria? Torn apart by proxy wars. Afghanistan? Left in ruins after 20 years of occupation. The U.S. doesn’t bring “freedom” to the Middle East — it brings drones, sanctions, and instability, all while patting itself on the back for being the “good guy.”

Israel has been the U.S.’s partner-in-crime, carrying out its own atrocities while conveniently playing victim. How do you justify bulldozing Palestinian homes, stealing land, and blockading Gaza to the point of starvation? Easy — just call it “security.” The Middle East doesn’t need more meddling devils masquerading as saviors.