After a Sports Hall in Iran Was Bombed, Witnesses Describe Chaos and “Continuous Screaming”

 

Several hours after a bomb struck a girls’ elementary school and killed 165, a strike on the town of Lamerd killed teenagers in a gymnasium.

Dozens of teenage girls were attending their regular training sessions of volleyball, basketball, and gymnastics in the main sports hall in Lamerd, a city near the Persian coast, when a missile slammed into the building at 5 p.m. on Saturday. Additional strikes hit two nearby residential areas and a hall adjacent to a school, as the U.S. and Israel pounded targets across Iran on the first day of what President Donald Trump declared as a regime change war. According to local officials cited in Iranian state media, the strikes on Lamerd killed at least 18 civilians and wounded scores more.

“Within seconds of the missile strike, the windows shattered into thousands of fragments. Sports equipment, balls, tables, barriers flew through the air. Black smoke filled the space. The smell of gunpowder made breathing almost impossible. The screaming began immediately, layered with the sound of debris collapsing and concrete falling from the ceiling,” Mohammed Saed Khorshedy, a 29-year-old worker at the gym who witnessed the attack, told Drop Site News.

The facility sits on the outskirts of Lamerd, a quiet city in Fars province, near the surrounding Zagros mountain range, giving the natural landscape an uneven, rugged character. The rectangular building is at a crossroads connecting the city center to Bandar Assaluyeh, an industrial port and energy hub on the Persian Gulf.

The sports hall was poorly maintained, with deteriorating walls surrounded by a low perimeter fence. A high arched metal roof sat atop a reinforced concrete frame and a rubber floor for volleyball and other sports. The missile struck the middle of the roof, destroying a large part of the building. The main court, small spectator stands, changing rooms, and coach’s office were all reduced to rubble.

Hossein Gholami, a 50-year-old elementary school teacher, was returning from work when he heard the blast. His 16-year-old daughter, Zahra, was training in the hall.

“I noticed a strange gathering of people at the corner of the street leading to the sports hall,” Gholami told Drop Site. “The screaming was rising from a distance. A colleague ran toward me, waving his arm, and said in a shaken voice: ‘Zahra, the hall, there has been an explosion.’ I felt as though the ground had split beneath my feet. Everything around me became hazy,” he said. “I ran immediately, and with every step the columns of black smoke rose higher, while the smell of fire and flames entered my nose with force.”  (more...)

After a Sports Hall in Iran Was Bombed, Witnesses Describe Chaos and “Continuous Screaming”

The Hidden Grammar of the Robert Kraft Super Bowl Video

 

Washing the Gaza genocide with stale tears

The year that was: How pro-Palestine campaigns disrupt the US-Israeli war alliance in 2025

 

In 2025, the global pro-Palestine movement mobilized digital networks, grassroots pressure, and transnational solidarity to challenge and disrupt the deeply entrenched political and military alliance between Western powers and the Israeli regime.

As Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza and its expansionism in the occupied West Bank persisted into 2025 unabated, a constellation of activist networks and digital platforms galvanized international solidarity.

These campaigns did not merely relay news, but they armed citizens with narratives, data, and pressure tactics aimed at dismantling the Israeli-American nexus of power.

Leveraging everything from legal action in foreign courts to public boycott movements targeting the cultural and sporting arenas, the global pro-Palestine movement refused to be sidelined by corporate media or Western governments’ intent on normalizing Israeli violence.

Here is the list of prominent advocacy and justice campaigns that shaped resistance in 2025.  (more...)

The year that was: How pro-Palestine campaigns disrupt the US-Israeli war alliance in 2025

✍️ Feature - Unmasked: US-Israeli ‘Vampire Empire’ commander behind Hind Rajab’s murder

By @HumairaAhad_83 https://t.co/r1SOKS2cCT

— Press TV 🔻 (@PressTV) October 25, 2025

Eurovision & UEFA: is Europe about to boycott Israel?

 

While Trump’s ceasefire has neither ended Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine nor its army’s massacre of hundreds of civilians, it has settled political attacks by key allies that were leaving it isolated.

But in the cultural sphere, Israel is facing increasing pressure.

When Israel was cleared to enter the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest earlier this month, the competition was plunged into one of the biggest rows in its history. Spain, Ireland, Slovenia, the Netherlands, and Iceland have pulled out in protest, and two former winners have handed back their trophies.

Israel accuses its critics of mounting a global smear campaign against it.

And it’s not just Eurovision. In the world of sports a vote has just been scheduled that could set in motion Israel’s exclusion from European football. More on that later.

Today we ask: will culture do what politics did not– and end Israel’s impunity on the world stage?

A safari on human beings': New testimonies reopen darkest chapter of the siege of Sarajevo

 

Exclusive interviews with a former Bosnian intelligence officer and a leading political analyst reveal why allegations of "sniper tourism"—wealthy foreigners paying to shoot civilians—are resurfacing nearly three decades after the war.

Nearly thirty years after the guns of the Bosnian war fell silent, a set of allegations long whispered through Sarajevo’s wartime memory is forcing its way back into public view. A phenomenon so disturbing that many once dismissed it as traumatised folklore: wealthy foreign nationals allegedly paying Serb forces during the siege to be escorted to sniping positions where they could shoot at civilians—an activity now referred to as the “Sarajevo Safari".

For years, this rumour hovered at the edge of collective remembrance—too horrifying to ignore, too undocumented to prosecute. But two developments have pushed the story into a new phase: a Slovenian documentary, Sarajevo Safari, released in 2022, and an ongoing criminal inquiry in Milan focused specifically on alleged Italian participants.

For many survivors, the idea was too grotesque to contemplate. For others — especially those who lived under siege — the allegations fit disturbingly well within the reality they experienced.

Three decades later, the so-called Sarajevo Safari is no longer just a whispered wartime rumour. Italy has opened an official investigation, Bosnian prosecutors are reviewing evidence, and the phenomenon has re-entered public memory with renewed urgency.

To understand how this alleged system functioned — and why it is emerging publicly only now — Al Mayadeen English spoke with Edin Subašić, a former intelligence officer of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and with Professor Adnan Huskić, one of Bosnia’s leading political analysts and a scholar of EU and Western Balkan affairs.

Their testimonies help reconstruct one of the most chilling chapters of the war.  (more...)

A safari on human beings': New testimonies reopen darkest chapter of the siege of Sarajevo

Italy investigates alleged 'sniper tourists' of Sarajevo siege

 

Italian prosecutors have opened a war crimes investigation into what has become known as 'sniper tourism'. The appalling horror of men flying into a warzone to hunt civilians resurfaced after the 2022 documentary 'Sarajevo Safari'. It depicted foreigners who paid to shoot Sarajevo residents for sport during the 1990s siege. Survivors say the probe offers new hope for long-delayed justice. Semir Sejfovic reports from Sarajevo.

‘Worst gift ever’: Global calls mount to boycott Reebok over sponsorship tied to Israeli settlements

 

When a global sportswear name appears on the kit of a regime waging a genocidal war, the sneakers in shop windows stop being just shoes — they become symbols.

Reebok, an American footwear and clothing brand, is finding itself at the center of a growing international storm over its sponsorship of the Israel Football Association (IFA).

For Palestinian athletes and human-rights campaigners, the deal crosses a line: a multinational brand is lending prestige — and heaps of money — to an association embedded in an occupation that kills and displaces Palestinians daily in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

The result has been a coordinated global call for a boycott and a “Day of Action” on November 22, urging consumers to turn their purchases into political pressure.

The protest comes as Israel continues its bombardment of the besieged Palestinian territories despite a declared “ceasefire,” resulting in the deaths of civilians, including women and children.

Since October 7, 2023, nearly 70,000 Palestinians have been killed, with tens of thousands more still trapped under the rubble and unaccounted for. 

Calls to boycott Israeli sports, particularly football, continue to gain momentum, as nearly 1,000 Palestinian athletes have been killed over the past two years.

Global sports governing bodies, despite mounting pressure, have so far refused to suspend Israel.  (more...)

‘Worst gift ever’: Global calls mount to boycott Reebok over sponsorship tied to Israeli settlements

✍🏻 Feature - ‘Game Over Israel’: A new campaign calls on FIFA, UEFA to kick out Israel from world football

By Maryam Qarehgozlouhttps://t.co/ItDGPWG6YA

— Press TV 🔻 (@PressTV) September 23, 2025

Ireland joins calls to ban Israel from European football

 

The Irish Football Association says Israel broke Uefa rules by allowing 'settlement clubs' in the occupied West Bank

Ireland has joined a growing number of countries calling for Israel to be banned from European club and international football competitions.

Late on Saturday, the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) approved a motion to submit a formal resolution to Uefa, urging the suspension of Israeli clubs and the national team from all European football.

The move followed a proposal from Dublin club Bohemians, which argued that the Israel Football Association (IFA) has breached Uefa rules by failing to uphold anti-racism policies and by allowing the establishment of "clubs in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank" without the consent of the Palestinian Football Association.

During the FAI's meeting, 74 members voted in favour of the motion, with seven against and two abstentions. The association later confirmed the outcome in a statement to Irish media.

"[The FAI will] submit a formal motion to the Uefa executive committee requesting the immediate suspension of the Israel Football Association from Uefa competitions due to its violation of two independent provisions of the Uefa statutes," the statement read.  (more...)

Ireland joins calls to ban Israel from European football

'Heart of India-Israel alliance': New York group releases report slamming Tata

 

Salam says the Indian behemoth is 'fundamentally embedded in the architecture of occupation, surveillance, and dispossession' of Palestine

The Indian behemoth Tata Group lies at the heart of the India-Israel alliance, a South Asian political group in New York City says, in a detailed report of the company's deep ties with the Israeli government and military.

The 59-page report, Architects of Occupation: The Tata Group, Indian Capital, and the India-Israel Alliance, comes as NYC-based activists continue to pressure the TCS New York City Marathon to drop its title partner, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), over its ties to the Israeli government and military.

Since 2024, activists in NYC have been pressing the New York Road Runners (NYRR) to sever ties with its lead sponsor, TCS, which they accuse of playing a critical role in enabling Israel’s apartheid regime.

As part of the #TataByeBye campaign, the South Asian political organisation, Salam, says the Indian company is "fundamentally embedded in the architecture of occupation, surveillance, and dispossession" of Palestine.

"The conglomerate's complicity is comprehensive, providing the hardware of genocide, the machinery of daily oppression, and the digital backbone of apartheid," the report published on Tuesday says.  (more...)

'Heart of India-Israel alliance': New York group releases report slamming Tata

Montreal Cycling Race a Win for Genocide Supporters

 

Montreal is being used as a prop to clean up Israel’s image on the international stage

A billionaire with ties to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is using Montreal to bolster Israel’s image on the international stage.

Canadian businessman Sylvan Adams owns one of the teams competing in Sunday’s Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal, a race featuring professional riders on a track that snakes around Mount Royal 17 times.

His team, Israel-Premier Tech, showcases Quebec athletes who may not have had opportunities in international competition without Adams’ deep pockets and love for the sport of cycling. But these riders will also be sporting Israel’s colours at a time when two thirds of Canadians believe the country is committing genocide in Gaza.

Though Adams lives in Israel, the team is actually based in Quebec. As Adams stated in past interviews, he uses the country’s name on his riders’ jerseys as a “sports diplomacy” effort. In one of Israel-Premier Tech’s Facebook videos, for instance, Prime Minister Netanyahu rides a bike alongside team members and warmly embraces Adams.

The inclusion of an international fugitive in the team’s social media is not benign. It’s part of an effort to humanize a politician whose government refers to Palestinians as “human animals” and whose most senior members have called for Gaza to be “wiped off the face of the earth.” 

After praising the “miracles” being carried out by Israel’s army in the strip, Adams recently told the Jewish News Syndicate that Gaza is little more than a public relations problem for Israel.

Which is where Montreal comes in.  (more...)

Montreal Cycling Race a Win for Genocide Supporters

Davis Cup: Tournament or Sportswashing Debacle?

 

A swing of the racquet or the sound of an ace will not drown out the cries of mothers weeping for their dead children.

The last few months have seen unprecedented excitement and winnings from Canadian Tennis players. 

On Aug. 7, Victoria Mboko won the National Bank Open in Montreal, Leyla Fernandez won the Citi DC Open title in July, and Felix Auger-Aliassime made it to the semifinals of the U.S Open last week. 

There have been moments of unbridled joy (in the form of Fernandes and her doubles partner, Venus Williams) and there is much to look forward to with the potential for drawing in new fans and supporters of the sport.

In the background of this excitement, the Davis Cup — known for being a global tournament that amplifies team tennis — there is upheaval and resistance. 

The Davis Cup is being hosted by Tennis Canada in Halifax, N.S. and Canada will face Israel in a tie on September 12 and 13 in a closed venue with no spectators. The games will be broadcast, but the players will be in a stadium reminiscent of peak COVID-19 times: empty. 

This decision was made in conjunction with the ITF to ensure safety after they received information and “intelligence received from local authorities and national security agencies.” However, according to a CBC news report, the Halifax Regional Police were not one of the entities or “local authorities” that Tennis Canada referred to in regards to safety and security intel.  

The community in Halifax has been protesting and will continue to voice concerns. There are planned protests throughout the duration of the Davis Cup. The municipality has also cancelled $50,000 of funding towards the event. According to a city spokesperson, because the event is behind closed doors, the Davis Cup no longer offers “the tourism, economic and other benefits that would have been expected had it proceeded as originally planned.”  (more...)

Davis Cup: Tournament or Sportswashing Debacle?

Nelson Mandela and his comrades were imprisoned for resisting apartheid. The world rose in solidarity.

Today, human rights activists, including his grandson @nkoszwelivelile call on the world to keep rising for 🇵🇸 & for @TennisCanada to boycott the @Daviscup game against🇮🇱. 🧵 pic.twitter.com/Ae0AQb8dPy

— Movement Media Hub (@movingthemedia) September 10, 2025

Calls grow to shut down Halifax tennis match between Israel and Canada

 

Tennis Canada has shamelessly announced that the Canada–Israel Davis Cup match, scheduled for September 12 and 13 in Halifax, will bring an estimated $2.2 million into the local economy — effectively calculating the economic gains of supporting genocide and putting a dollar value on each Palestinian life lost in Gaza: macabrely ironic as in 2023 before the onset of the genocide Gaza’s population was estimated at 2.2 million.  This obscene calculus reduces the massacre of tens of thousands of civilians — children, women and men — to a business opportunity.

Even more disturbing, measures are now being taken to police and silence those in Halifax who dare to raise their voices against genocide. Rather than uphold the principles of free expression and moral conscience, city officials are aligning themselves with an event that normalizes and legitimizes war crimes. Deputy Mayor Tony Mancini has grotesquely attempted to tie his support for this “tennis for genocide” event to Victoria Mboko’s victory at the National Bank Open and the empowerment of young women — a cynical attempt to mask complicity in mass atrocity under the language of inspiration and equality.

Let us be clear: Gaza remains under relentless bombardment. Hundreds of thousands are dead or injured. Homes, schools, hospitals, and refugee camps lie in ruins – with Gaza having the largest number of child amputees in history. The overwhelming evidence points to war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide unfolding before our very eyes. To host the Israeli tennis team under these circumstances is to stand on the wrong side of history.

This is not just a tennis match. It is a political act — a shameful endorsement of the idea that the mass killing of civilians, the destruction of entire communities, and the violation of international law can be ignored, excused, or even rewarded with a stage for celebration. It is an exercise in sportswashing — laundering the image of genocide and an apartheid state through the spectacle of sport.  (more...)

Calls grow to shut down Halifax tennis match between Israel and Canada

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Canada must boycott Davis Cup match with Israel

 

Given the ongoing genocide in Gaza, Canada's upcoming Davis Cup tennis match with Israel is an unjustifiable violation of Canada’s obligations under international law and basic human rights. Canada must boycott the match immediately.

In mid-July, over thirty countries met in Colombia to discuss sanctions against Israel for its ongoing campaign in Gaza. In line with international law, twelve of those countries resolved to immediately ban arms sales to Israel and appraise all public contracts for complicity with companies profiting from Israeli occupation and genocide. Those countries also reiterated their commitment to prosecute individuals guilty of war crimes in Gaza. The other countries at the meeting indicated the possibility of signing on to these forms of sanction by mid-September.

Canada, which has just announced that it may conditionally recognize a Palestinian state in September, was not among either group.

Instead, at just about the same moment in mid-September that others will further contemplate sanctions and a growing number of nations will acknowledge Palestinian sovereignty, Canada will host Israel in a tie of the the Davis Cup international tennis tournament in Halifax. 

As Canadian scholars of exploitation and harm in sport, we consider that decision to be an egregious and indefensible violation of Canada’s responsibility to international law and a basic commitment to human rights. 

It must be reversed.  (more...)

Canada must boycott Davis Cup match with Israel

From Canada to Finland, a US neo-Nazi fight club is rapidly spreading across the globe

 

‘Active clubs’ that use martial arts to espouse far-right, fascist ideologies are proliferating in the US and abroad

More than a dozen men wearing black masks and sunglasses – obstructing any open source investigators from easily identifying them – appeared in a Telegram video in front of city hall in London, Canada, in June.

“Mass deportations now,” the men yelled in unison, holding up banners with the same slogan. “No blood for Israel.”

While this type of scene with masked men chanting is a relatively common occurrence in the US, this incident in Canada illustrated the underbelly of a surging global movement: neo-Nazi “active clubs”, American-born neofascist fight clubs, are rapidly spreading across borders.

London, a larger Canadian city in what is a rust belt in the province of Ontario, has had a long history with the Ku Klux Klan dating back to the 1920s and a racist murder of a Pakistani-Canadian family in 2021. But the arrival of an active club, which has also shown itself in other nearby towns and cities like Toronto (the country’s largest metropolitan area), is a relatively new development.

“Welcome to Hamilton, our city,” one Telegram post from the same Canadian active club wrote with its symbol posted on a sticker beside a sign for one of Ontario’s largest cities. “Folk-Family-Future!”

Around the world, Canada isn’t the only country being introduced to these clubs, which are fitness and mixed martial arts groups operating out of local gyms and parks that espouse neo-Nazi and fascist ideologies. Already proliferating across the US in a number of states, active clubs openly take their historical cues from the Third Reich’s obsession with machismo and their modern inspiration from European soccer hooliganism.  (more...)

From Canada to Finland, a US neo-Nazi fight club is rapidly spreading across the globe

Furthermore:

Neo-Nazi fight club is spreading around world, recruiting teens for future 'race war'

Hart Testifies, Strip Search Appeal, Officer Steals Seized Drugs

 

This week, Paul Palango gives an update and preview of his upcoming book, and the guys discuss how podcasts are emerging as a trusted news source. 

In stories, Paul and Adam Rodgers discuss the London World Junior hockey trial, which is not going well for the prosecution. This week, the first defendant to testify, Carter Hart, explained his perspective. The judge also heard from the initial police investigator, who had decided against laying charges. A key text message exchange was excluded from evidence, against the prosecutions wishes.

Also, the guys review the New Brunswick case where the defense is looking for more information on a confidential source being handled by an officer who is himself accused of stealing drugs from the RCMP exhibit locker.

In Nova Scotia, the Court of Appeal overturned a decision to exclude evidence after an improper strip search of the accused. Dante Cromwell had pointed a handgun at another motorist in a road rage incident, and was later found to be in possession of 25g of cocaine after a strip search by Halifax police. 

Finally, the guys discuss the land acknowledgement from King Charles, and Paul reminisces about covering a royal visit in his early days as a reporter.

The Human Hunters of Sarajevo

 

Could the unthinkable be true? In the aftermath of the Bosnian War — a conflict marked by atrocities and genocide — rumors swirled of wealthy outsiders flying into war-torn Sarajevo to pay for a gruesome and forbidden thrill: hunting humans for sport.

What sort of person would take part in a human safari?

In this episode:

• -Mirsad Sijarić, Sniper Alley witness and director of National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina
• -Azem Kurtić, Bosnian journalist

War Crimes Allegations Cast Shadow Over Invictus Games in BC: Israeli Soldiers’ Participation Sparks Controversy

 

Canadian-Funded and -Hosted Event Faces Ethical Dilemma as Death Toll in Gaza and Now the West Bank Surpasses 70,000

As the 2025 Invictus Games quickly approach, scheduled from February 8–16 in Vancouver and Whistler, British Columbia, we are compelled to address a matter of profound concern: the inclusion of active Israeli military personnel in this esteemed event. 

The Invictus Games stand as a testament to the resilience and recovery of wounded veterans. However, this year's participation of Israeli soldiers—some of whom may have been directly involved in actions currently under investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide of the Palestinian people—casts a shadow over the event's integrity.

Both the federal and provincial governments have pledged $15 million each to support the 2025 Invictus Games, underscoring the significance of this event to Canada. This substantial investment highlights the nation's commitment to honouring the sacrifices of veterans and promoting international goodwill. However, the inclusion of Israeli military personnel, given the serious allegations against them, raises critical ethical questions about the values we choose to uphold.

In the past four days alone, Canadian citizens have already sent over 20,000 letters to Invictus event organizers and BC government leadership expressing outrage that a military currently under investigation for committing war crimes is being welcomed wholeheartedly into British Columbia.  (more...)

War Crimes Allegations Cast Shadow Over Invictus Games in BC: Israeli Soldiers’ Participation Sparks Controversy

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Students Disrupt Major UofT Donor Event

 

On Monday December 16th, the University of Toronto hosted an event for their donors to celebrate a milestone in their Defy Gravity fundraising campaign. As a part of this Defy Gravity Campaign, the U of T fundraises money for research partnerships with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI), the Technion and Tel-Aviv University - 3 academic institutions deeply complicit in Israeli apartheid and genocide.

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How Israeli Hooligans Found Out In Amsterdam

 

Lowkey catches up with the legend of Dutch Hip Hop, Appa, who witnessed the events surrounding the Maccabi Tel Aviv vs. Ajax football match in Amsterdam, which ended in violence.

FIFA Is Whitewashing and Sportswashing Israeli Genocide and Sporticide. Football Stadiums Into Concentration Camps

 

Israel ‘Defense’ Forces, with unconditional support of the United States, have been waging a genocidal war on Gaza since October 2023, resulting in an unparalleled humanitarian catastrophe. They dropped over 85,000 tons of bombs, exceeding the amount of explosives used in World War II.

More than 44,000 Palestinian have been killed, including over 16,000 children, 190 journalists, 1,000 health workers, 230 United Nations staff members and many others. Over 104,000 are wounded – most of them children and women – while at least 11,000 are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes.

As part of its genocide, Israel is also committing sporticide, killing more than 500 Palestinian athletes, including over 344 footballers. Two of them were on the Palestinian National Team, including Mohamed Barakat, the first Palestinian to score over 100 goals professionally. Israel also jailed footballers, referees, and club owners. 

Israel’s air strikes in Gaza have resulted in extensive destruction of stadiums and, sports facilities in Gaza and the West Bank. They turned football stadiums into concentration camps where they detain and humiliate thousands of Palestinians who are paraded almost naked on television screens.

Thus, the Al Yarmouk stadium was turned into a makeshift concentration camp for Palestinian detainees. Men, women and children were rounded up, stripped down to their underwear, and blindfolded, while armed soldiers and tanks encircled the field. Blindfolded men and women were forced to kneel in front of a goal with the Israeli flag attached to the net.

Israel allows football clubs based in illegal settlements in West Bank to compete in official Israeli leagues in violation of international law. In the occupied Jerusalem they mounted a violent attack on the headquarters of the Palestinian Football Association (PFA).

In Apartheid Israel sports is rampant with racism and dehumanization of Palestinians. At an Israeli match a banner is displayed saying the lives of Palestinian children are worth nothing. Israeli football fans’ favorite anthem is “Death to the Arabs!” Such practices were noticed when Israeli team was playing in the Netherlands.  (more...)

FIFA Is Whitewashing and Sportswashing Israeli Genocide and Sporticide. Football Stadiums Into Concentration Camps