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War & Peace
Students Stage Walkouts in Dozens of Spanish Cities to 'Stop the Genocide' in Gaza
"While young people like us are being killed and subjected to genocide in Palestine, we cannot be in class," said one protester in Madrid.
Oct 02, 2025
Tens of thousands of students walked out of classrooms in cities and towns across Spain on Thursday to protest Israel's ongoing US-backed genocide in Gaza and abduction of Global Sumud Flotilla members, dozens of whom are Spanish.
The National Students' Union organized Thursday's protests under the slogan "stop the genocide against the Palestinian people." Demonstrations, which took part in at least 39 cities and towns, varied in size from small groups to thousands who turned out in Barcelona and the capital Madrid, where students held banners with messages like "Stop Everything to Stop the Genocide," "All Eyes on the Global Sumud Flotilla," and "Free Palestine!"
"We're not going to look the other way," the union said in a statement. "The Palestinian cause is the cause of the youth and the millions who stand for human rights and social justice. That is why... we called the general student strike to empty the classrooms and fill the streets with dignity."
Maria, a Spanish student interviewed by Turkey's Anadolu Ajansı in Madrid, said: "While young people like us are being killed and subjected to genocide in Palestine, we cannot be in class. The whole world must do everything it can to stop this genocide.”
Another Madrid protester, Francesca—an Italian student studying in Spain—told Anadolu that “we must pressure governments to stop Israel."
"Allowing genocide in full view of the world is unacceptable," she added. "The killing of women, children, and students in Palestine must end."
In Barcelona—whose former leftist Mayor Ada Colau was among the dozens of Spaniards who set sail for Gaza from the port city—an estimated 6,500 students and others took to the streets Thursday.
"What I can do is be here, with my presence," student Donia Armani told El País. "The more people, the better; so the Palestinians will not be alone."
Armani's mother added, “The Palestinians are like a brotherly people, we feel a lot from the absurd images we see."
Ana, a 14-year-old student protesting in Barcelona, said: “I think it’s very bad what’s happening," adding that Israel does "not let food arrive and also bombs them, which causes many, especially small children, to die, and I am very sorry."
Thursday's walkouts took place as Israeli forces continued assaulting Gaza on Thursday, killing scores of Palestinians amid a backdrop of ongoing famine and forced displacement. Since October 2023, Israeli forces have killed at least 66,225 Palestinians in Gaza, although experts say the actual death toll is much higher. At least 168,938 other Palestinians have been wounded, and thousands more are missing and presumed dead.
Spain's socialist-led government has been a leading critic of Israel's genocide in Gaza, taking numerous proactive steps including cutting off arms transfers to the erstwhile ally, prohibiting the shipment of fuel to the Israeli military, formally recognizing Palestinian statehood, and backing South Africa's genocide case currently before the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
The Spanish Foreign Ministry says at least 30 Spaniards are among the many Global Sumud Flotilla activists seized by Israeli forces in international waters overnight Thursday while attempting to deliver desperately needed humanitarian aid to Gaza.
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After Bombing Boats, Trump Tells Congress US Is in 'Armed Conflict' With Drug Cartels
"This is not stretching the envelope," said a retired judge advocate general lawyer. "This is shredding it. This is tearing it apart."
Oct 02, 2025
President Donald Trump's administration claimed that the United States is in an "armed conflict" with drug cartels in a confidential notice to Congress this week intended to justify his deadly bombings of alleged smuggling boats in the Caribbean.
Democrats in Congress and legal officials have been challenging the legality of the three military strikes Trump announced last month. A woman who identified herself as the wife of one of the at least 17 people extrajudicially killed in the US bombings said her husband was a fisher.
"Congress was notified about the designation by Pentagon officials on Wednesday," according to The Associated Press, one of several outlets that obtained the notice. The New York Times reported that it "was sent to several congressional committees."
NewsNation's Kellie Meyer posted the full memo on social media:
After citing a relevant section from the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2024, the notice describes decades of law enforcement efforts to stem the flow of illicit narcotics into the United States as "unsuccessful," and says that cartels "illegally and directly cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands of American citizens each year."
"The president determined these cartels are nonstate armed groups, designated them as terrorist organizations, and determined that their actions constitute an armed attack against the United States," the document continues. Trump also "determined that the United States is in a non-international armed conflict with these designated terrorist organizations" and directed the US Department of Defense, which he has dubbed the Department of War, "to conduct operations against them."
"The United States has now reached a critical point where we must use force in self-defense and defense of others against the ongoing attacks by these designated terrorist organizations," adds the memo, which notes the second strike on September 15.
Lawmakers and legal experts again challenged the administration's claim that, as the notice put it, Trump directed the bombings under "his constitutional authority as commander in chief and chief executive to conduct foreign relations."
As the Times reported:
Geoffrey S. Corn, a retired judge advocate general lawyer who was formerly the Army's senior adviser for law-of-war issues, said drug cartels were not engaged in "hostilities"—the standard for when there is an armed conflict for legal purposes—against the United States because selling a dangerous product is different from an armed attack.
Noting that it is illegal for the military to deliberately target civilians who are not directly participating in hostilities—even suspected criminals—Mr. Corn called the president's move an "abuse" that crossed a major legal line.
"This is not stretching the envelope," he said. "This is shredding it. This is tearing it apart."
New York University School of Law professor Ryan Goodman, who served as special counsel to the general counsel of the Defense Department during the Obama administration, said on social media that Corn was "completely right."
"Drug cartels not = 'armed conflict,'" Goodman added, stressing that the "people killed" in such strikes "are civilians."
Rutgers University law professor Adil Haque similarly pushed back on social media, saying: "The United States is not in a 'non-international armed conflict' with drug cartels. Cartels are not organized as armed groups, nor are they engaged in intense hostilities. These are dangerous criminal organizations and should be confronted using law enforcement tools."
Members of Congress also publicly weighed in, including Senate Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Jack Reed (D-RI), who said that "every American should be alarmed that President Trump has decided he can wage secret wars against anyone he labels an enemy. Drug cartels must be stopped, but declaring war and ordering lethal military force without Congress or public knowledge—nor legal justification—is unacceptable."
At least two of the strikes have occurred off the coast of Venezuela, elevating fears of an armed conflict with the country.
"Trump's actions are illegal, unconstitutional, and dangerous," Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said in response to the new memo. "He is leading us willy-nilly into war with Venezuela. I have 'determined' that this is a terrible idea."
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'Particularly Heinous': UN Chief Condemns Manchester Yom Kippur Synagogue Attack
The head of Amnesty International UK implored public figures to "not stoke hatred and division but focus on the solidarity and humanity that connects us all."
Oct 02, 2025
Human rights defenders including United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres condemned Thursday's deadly attack on a synagogue in Manchester, England on the holiest of Jewish holidays.
Two people were killed and four others seriously wounded when a man plowed his vehicle into a crowd and then stabbed worshippers at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Crumpsall on Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement and repentance. The killer was subsequently shot dead by police, who are calling the attack an act of terrorism.
“Houses of worship are sacred places where people can go to find peace,” Guterres said in a statement. “Targeting a synagogue on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, is particularly heinous.”
Sacha Deshmukh, CEO of Amnesty International UK, said that the organization is "deeply saddened" by Thursday's attack.
"Acts of violence have no place in our society and only serve to deepen division among communities," Deshmukh added. "Now more than ever, it is crucial to stand in solidarity with one another and recognize that our strength lies in our diversity. It is therefore essential that politicians and the media ensure their language and actions in the coming days do not stoke hatred and division but focus on the solidarity and humanity that connects us all."
While UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer claimed that the attacker targeted "Jews because they are Jews," the killer's motives are yet unknown. The attack came as Israel continues its genocidal assault and starvation of Gaza, which have left more than 244,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing and millions more forcibly displaced, starved, or sickened.
Critics—including Jewish people—have long warned that Israel's actions endanger Jews around the world, although violent antisemitism is a scourge that was on the rise even before the genocide began in October 2023, according to groups that monitor hate.
While accepting an award from the Human Rights Campaign, actor Hannah Einbinder used her speech to strongly condemn the genocide in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/EsOaeYk7Mo
— AJ+ (@ajplus) March 24, 2025
Jewish Voice for Labour, a progressive UK group, said early during the genocide: "Israel claims to be protecting Jewish lives and accuses its critics of antisemitism. But in fact it is actually endangering Jews worldwide by associating all Jews with the deadly siege of Gaza; the illegal colonization of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights; and the continuing exile of more than 6 million Palestinian refugees in the Middle East and beyond."
New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman—a Jew and longtime staunch supporter of Israel—wrote in June that "the way Israel is fighting the war in Gaza today is laying the groundwork for a fundamental recasting of how Israel and Jews will be seen the world over."
"It won’t be good," he added. "Police cars and private security at synagogues and Jewish institutions will increasingly become the norm; Israel, instead of being seen by Jews as a safe haven from antisemitism, will be seen as a new engine generating it."
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Attack on Flotilla Shows How Far Israel Will Go to Keep 'Deliberately Starving' Gaza: Amnesty
“By continuing to actively block vital aid to a population against whom Israel is committing genocide, including by inflicting famine, Israel is once again demonstrating its utter contempt for the legally binding orders of the International Court of Justice," says Amnesty International's secretary-general Agnès Callamard.
Oct 02, 2025
Amid international outrage and protest over the interdiction and detention of humanitarians aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla by Israeli military forces, Amnesty International on Thursday said the effort to block the approximately 40 vessels bound to Gaza with life-saving aid shows just how far the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will go to keep "deliberately starving" innocent Palestinians in the besieged enclave.
“Israel’s forceful interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla vessels and detention of its crew off the coast of Gaza is a brazen assault against solidarity activists carrying out an entirely peaceful humanitarian mission," said Amnesty's secretary-general Agnès Callamard in a statement. "This seizure comes after weeks of threats and incitement by Israeli officials against the flotilla and its participants and after several attempts to sabotage some of its ships."
“By continuing to actively block vital aid to a population against whom Israel is committing genocide, including by inflicting famine, Israel is once again demonstrating its utter contempt for the legally binding orders of the International Court of Justice and its own obligations as the occupying power to ensure Palestinians in Gaza have access to sufficient food and lifesaving humanitarian assistance.
Protests erupted in cities across Europe, the Middle East, and worldwide on Wednesday night after news of the interdiction spread. Though not unexpected, the military assault on the nonviolent flotilla occurred in international waters, eliciting accusations of piracy and lawlessness on the high seas by the Israeli military and its civilian leadership.
In a Thursday morning statement, the group detailed what happened to their flotilla and reminded people worldwide of their purpose:
At approximately 10:00 PM EEST on October 1st, the IOF launched their assault on the Global Sumud Flotilla.
The world bore witness as unarmed civilians carrying humanitarian aid were subjected to intimidation and interception in the final hours of their peaceful mission to Gaza.
As the sun rises, the actions taken under the cover of darkness could not be more clear: they are the desperate maneuvers of an oppressor.
Our spirits are not broken and our resolve is only strengthened.
"This interception is not just about blocking aid," said Callamard. "It is a calculated act of intimidation intended to punish and silence critics of Israel’s genocide and its unlawful blockade on Gaza. The incitement and threats that preceded it are also a shameless attempt to demonize peaceful solidarity initiatives seeking to end Israel’s genocide and the cruel blockade it has imposed on Gaza since 2007 and significantly tightened since October 2023."
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Wednesday announced that a documented 151 children have now died in Gaza of starvation imposed on them by Israel's blockade of humanitarian aid amid constant bombardment and evacuation orders which have displaced individuals and families without relent.
UNICEF stressed, according to the UN News Centre, "that Gaza’s malnutrition crisis has reached catastrophic levels with the entire child population under five—more than 320,000 children—at risk of acute malnutrition."
With at least 14,383 children acutely malnourished in August, acute malnutrition among young people is up 500% from the beginning of this calendar year, all while aid groups from across the world have sounded the alarm and called for international intervention and the end of the forced starvation.
“This war must end now. Aid must be allowed into the Gaza Strip, including food and nutrition supplies. Humanitarians must be allowed to do their jobs,” said UNICEF communication manager Tess Ingram.
“The children of Gaza," she said, "are being punished by these decisions and it's killing them.”
For her part, Callamard said the attack on the peaceful humanitarian flotilla means that time for rhetoric and simple rebuke has long passed.
"The time for mere condemnation is over. States worldwide must act now and now make clear that they will no longer tolerate Israel’s systematic starvation of Palestinians in Gaza nor its targeting of unarmed civilian humanitarian efforts," she said. "The decades-long impunity for Israel’s blatant violations of international law must end, nothing can justify genocide.
Callamard demanded the "immediate and safe return of all those detained and allow unhindered access to Gaza for the other ships. They must also press Israel to lift its suffocating 18-year blockade and allow humanitarian aid to be delivered through all crossings into and throughout Gaza now."
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