World Council of Churches calls on governments to hold Israel accountable for violations of international law

 

The World Council of Churches' new campaign called “From Condemnation to Consequences” aims to pressure governments to hold Israel accountable for its deepening occupation of the West Bank and its accelerated program of genocide and ethnic cleansing.

Last week, the World Council of Churches (WCC), headquartered in Geneva, launched a month-long campaign titled “From Condemnation to Consequences.” The program calls its member churches—clergy leaders and lay alike—to hold Israel accountable for its failure to fulfill its obligations under international law.

George Sahhar, Advocacy Officer in the Jerusalem Liaison Office of the World Council of Churches, tells Mondoweiss. “When attention is focused on the war in the Middle East, we want the world to see that human rights violations by Israel against Palestinians continue, and that annexation is ongoing and deepened.” 

During a webinar introducing the March 4-31 campaign, Kenneth Mtata, WCC Program Director for Life, Justice and Peace, said, “[O]ur campaign needs to remain focused on the commitments that the churches have made together, with all their partners, to see how we move from the statements and condemnation of the occupation and annexation of Palestine, and to try to translate this into concrete changes and transformation.”

In short, the World Council of Churches, comprised of 356 member churches representing more than half a billion Christians around the globe, has acknowledged that offering “thoughts and prayers” alone is not enough to address Israel’s decades-long occupation and its accelerated program of genocide and ethnic cleansing.  (more...)

World Council of Churches calls on governments to hold Israel accountable for violations of international law

From Guernica to Tehran: Canada and the politics of appeasement

 

On April 26, 1937, German and Italian air forces destroyed the Spanish town of Guernica in what infamously became the first example of an aerial bombing campaign specifically designed to inflict suffering on the civilian population.

Writing for the British newspaper The Times, correspondent George Steer said that “in the form of its execution and the scale of the destruction it wrought […], the raid on Guernica is unparalleled in military history. Guernica was not a military objective. A factory producing war materiel lay outside the town and was untouched. So were two barracks some distance from the town. The town lay far behind the lines. The object of the bombardment was seemingly the demoralization of the civil population and the destruction of the cradle of the Basque race.” [emphasis author’s]

Nearly 89 years later, the city of Tehran, a city 9.7 of million inhabitants, awoke to a sky filled with thick black smoke following the United States bombardment and destruction of four oil storage and distribution sites in the west, north and south of the capital of Iran. CNN correspondent Frederik Pleitgen posted a video on social media on Sunday morning showing the rooftop of his accommodations covered in a slick of oil-soaked rain. Shina Ansari, head of Iran’s Department of Environment, described the resulting catastrophic damage as “ecocide.”

In response to the latest in a series of horrific war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated by the United States against Iran, including the sinking of a defenceless Iranian naval vessel returning from an exercise at the invitation of the Indian government, the Canadian government headed by Prime Minister Mark Carney has largely avoided taking a clear position.

In doing so, the Carney government seems intent on continuing the tradition of appeasement that can be traced back to the Nazi bombing of Guernica.

Following that terrible act of destruction and collective punishment, which he almost certainly would have known about, then-Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King met with Adolf Hitler in Berlin, writing in his diary that “[m]y sizing up of the man as I sat and talked with him was that he is really one who truly loves his fellow man and his country […].”

King also had a particularly galling response to the United States atomic bombing of Hiroshima, writing that “It is fortunate that the use of the bomb should have been upon the Japanese rather than upon the white races of Europe.”  (more...)

From Guernica to Tehran: Canada and the politics of appeasement

Pugwash leadership on the U.S. and Israeli military attack on Iran

 

The Leadership of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs expresses unequivocal condemnation of the military attack launched by the United States of America and Israel against the Islamic Republic of Iran, which constitutes a flagrant breach of international law, the United Nations Charter, and the most basic principles of humanity.

While recognizing the legitimate right of self-defence, we remind all parties of their binding obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilian lives and critical infrastructure. We call for the immediate cessation of military operations by all sides. Their continuation will only result in further tragic loss of life and risk provoking grave and unforeseen global consequences.

The deliberate resort to force represents a war of choice not necessity. As in June 2025 the attack comes amidst a process of long-overdue diplomatic engagement between the US and Iran, purportedly to resolve outstanding questions on the Iranian nuclear program. Most critically, as this latest attack has unfolded it has become clear that Iran’s nuclear program is not the central point of contention or objective for launching military strikes. As we urged in our letters to each President on February 27, “All states possess legitimate security interests; however, the pursuit of those interests must be balanced with the shared responsibility to preserve regional stability and international peace.”

The Pugwash Leadership is gravely concerned by these threats to regional and global stability from nuclear-armed states. By launching attacks against non-nuclear weapon states, these nuclear powers have shattered the agreed security arrangements of the non-proliferation regime. Such actions risk igniting a new, uncontrollable wave of proliferation, as non-nuclear states may now find a desperate justification to acquire nuclear weapons to safeguard their own survival. The rule of law, the authority of multilateral institutions, and the fragile international order are increasingly under threat amid a broader trend of military action in lieu of authentic diplomacy and meaningful negotiation. As concerned global citizens, we warn in the strongest terms against the normalization of war as an instrument of policy.

The present situation stands in stark opposition to the founding ideals of Pugwash, which are rooted in dialogue in service of cooperative security and the prevention of war. We reiterate that diplomacy and adherence to international law remain the only viable path toward lasting peace and security.  (more...)

Pugwash leadership on the U.S. and Israeli military attack on Iran

The Zionist Deception

 

In this episode, we'll look more closely at what Zionist propagandists' are selling as "Western values" that are common to both Christians and self-identified Jews. We'll also meet two of the "Founding Fathers" of the modern state of Israel to consider their religious arguments in favor of a Jewish state.

Learn more about the Talmud, its stunning treatment of transgenderism, and its unique influence on contemporary Jewish identity:

https://akacatholic.com/what-does-the-talmud-really-say/

The Early Latter Rain Split and William Branham's Inner Circle

 

John and Charles trace the early splits that formed around William Branham, the Latter Rain movement, and the growing divisions that reshaped Pentecostal history in the 1950s. They explain how Branham's relationships with key leaders began to fracture, why broader Pentecostal circles pushed back, and how those conflicts helped create the isolated movement that later became known as the Message.

The conversation also explores the connection between Sharon Orphanage, George Hawtin, Myrtle Beall, Joseph Mattsson-Boze, and the larger Latter Rain network, showing how Branham's influence fed the movement even as its internal divisions deepened. Along the way, John highlights the historical backdrop behind Branham's separation from mainstream Christianity and the surprising overlap between those early controversies and figures like Jim Jones.

• Introduction
• How The Message Became Isolated
• Key Sources For Researching The Split
• How Latter Rain Began Around Branham's Influence

Why Global Majority must unite against US imperialism in Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, Gaza

 

Recent events – the extra-judicial abduction of Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, by the United States; the unprovoked and illegal US and Israeli war against Iran; the unjust blockade of fuel shipments to Cuba; and, of course, the Israeli genocidal war against Gaza with full American backing – have all served to confirm the reality of imperialism in our contemporary lives.

If Western imperialism once took the form of direct colonial rule from the European conquest of the Americas in the late fifteenth century until the mid-twentieth century, today it operates indirectly.

It now exerts economic, political, and cultural control over the Global Majority through persuasion, intimidation, threats, and intervention.

Despite the vast majority of the world having undergone formal decolonization, we remain subject to domination, particularly by the United States, in the form of economic controls and political coercion.

This is precisely what President Sukarno, at the 1955 Asian-African Conference, also known as the Bandung Conference, referred to as neocolonialism.

Recently, the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and Iranian Foreign Minister, Dr. Seyyed Abbas Araghchi, spoke at separate international conferences and reflected in their speeches two widely differing visions of what the world should be like.

One was a grotesque display of the imperialist impulse, while the other was a plea for international order, respect and peace.  (more...)

Why Global Majority must unite against US imperialism in Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, Gaza

- "I went to the classified briefings. There was NO imminent threat."

- "This whole thing is just so transparently BUILT ON LIES"

-" This is Iraq 2.0"

- "No congressional vote can legitimize this war"

- "SHAME ON YOU ALL"

US Congressman Jim McGovern before being cut off pic.twitter.com/5ndaLppxpS

— Press TV 🔻 (@PressTV) March 5, 2026

Poland launches human trafficking probe linked to Epstein network

 

Warsaw prosecutors say women and minors may have been recruited in the country for sexual exploitation abroad

Polish prosecutors have launched an investigation into suspected human trafficking linked to late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, after documents released by the US Justice Department indicated victims were allegedly recruited in the country.

The National Prosecutor’s Office said on Wednesday it was probing whether women – including minors and Polish citizens – were recruited in Poland “by misleading them as to the true nature of prospective employment abroad,” before being transported across borders and handed over to others for sexual exploitation. The suspected trafficking occurred between 2009 and 2019.

Warsaw will request information and evidence from two European countries under a European Investigation Order, prosecutors said, as cited by local media. A source familiar with the matter told Reuters the requests will go to France and Sweden.

The Polish probe is part of a widening international fallout from the latest release of millions of Epstein documents, which have triggered criminal investigations, arrests, and resignations across politics, business, and royalty.  (more...)

Poland launches human trafficking probe linked to Epstein network