June Palestine Update

Greta Thunberg aboard the Freedom Flotilla on its way to break the Israeli naval blockade and deliver aid to Gaza.

International

Every month, the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza reaches new levels of devastation. The so-called "aid corridor" at the Rafah border remains a PR stunt. Despite international promises, aid is not reaching the people who need it. Those who make their way to humanitarian aid sites are shot and killed in cold blood by the Israeli military. Health officials and aid workers (corroborated by the Ministry of Health in Gaza) describe a situation in which hundreds of pregnant women have suffered miscarriages due to the lack of adequate food, clean water, and medical care amid the ongoing siege. According to Reuters and Associated Press reports, children are dying of malnutrition at alarming rates while Gaza's health infrastructure has been rendered ineffectual by Israeli attacks.

The supposed ceasefire proposal put forward by the U.S. is rightfully facing backlash from Hamas. The 60-day ceasefire deal requests Hamas release 10 Israeli prisoners, but Hamas refuses to release them all at the same time as to guarantee that Israel holds up their end of the bargain. Hamas also requests a permeant end to the genocide, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, and the entry of aid.

Across the rest of the region, U.S.-Israeli aggression continues unchecked. Israel resumed airstrikes on Yemen, claiming to intercept missiles launched by the Houthis in response to the siege on Gaza. Even the recently negotiated ceasefire between the U.S. and the Houthis is unraveling, exposing the fragility of Washington's imperial grip on the region.

This is not war. This is systematic annihilation. Gaza is being starved while the world watches it happen on live streams. And the United States remains Israel's primary backer, financier, and shield.

National

Here at home, the U.S. government continues to criminalize Palestine solidarity and repress activists. Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian graduate student at Columbia, remains in ICE detention despite being a legal U.S. resident. He was finally allowed to hold his newborn son, but only after immense public pressure and legal wrangling. His story is one of many; ICE is targeting pro-Palestinian voices under the guise of immigration enforcement.

Workers are also under attack. At Microsoft's Build conference, a software engineer was fired after protesting the company's AI contracts with the Israeli military. Meanwhile, hunger strikes spread from Stanford University to Maine, where activists are refusing food to protest U.S. complicity in genocide.

In a notable development, Rümeysa Öztürk, a Turkish Ph.D. student at Tufts University, was released from ICE detention after more than six weeks. Her arrest stemmed from co-authoring an op-ed critical of Tufts' response to Israel's actions in Gaza. U.S. District Judge William Sessions ordered her release, citing violations of her First Amendment and due process rights, and emphasized the lack of evidence justifying her detention. Öztürk, who suffered multiple asthma attacks while detained, is now free without restrictions and plans to resume her doctoral studies. This victory would not have been possible without sustained and organized grassroots resistance.

Local

In Cincinnati, repression continues in quieter but no less vicious forms. After a city employee was fired for spitting at pro-Palestine protesters outside City Hall, misplaced public outrage led to his reinstatement. The administration's message was clear: defending Palestine is more offensive to the city than physically assaulting its supporters.

At the end of May, a wide coalition of anti-war activists mobilized in Dayton, Ohio in response to the city hosting the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. Groups like ANSWER are organizing protests to challenge the U.S. military machine directly, calling attention to NATO's role in upholding imperialism.

This is the front line of international solidarity: organizing against imperial war alliances in our own backyard.

Conclusion

The Israeli regime commits genocide, and the U.S. enables it. The repression of activists here, the starvation and slaughter of civilians abroad, and the bipartisan support for this bloodshed must be confronted directly.

There is no neutral ground. You either stand with Palestine or with the empire trying to crush it. The people of Gaza are not asking us to vote. They are asking us to resist.

Liberation for Palestine is liberation for all.

Stand up. Link arms. Take action.