Joanna Naples-Mitchell

Urgent Ideas for Defending Press Freedom in Gaza Letters, condemnations, and Israeli court cases have failed to change the world’s deadliest place for journalists. We’ve cast out for a new approach.

Urgent ideas for defending press freedom in Gaza, the world’s deadliest place for journalists. By @azmatzahra.bsky.social, @meghnadbose.bsky.social, and @laurenwatsonjourno.bsky.social. www.cjr.org/feature/urge...

They Called for Help. Instead, the Police Brought Harm. - Mochi Magazine Police responses to Asian Americans in crisis reveal deadly gaps in mental health care, disability justice, and systemic accountability.

Utmost appreciation to journalists who tackle issues others find difficult and defies public lore. This time, Rohan Zhou-Lee @diaryofafirebird.bsky.social ties together #disability justice, #AAPI communities, and ongoing state violence / harm by law enforcement. www.mochimag.com/activism/pol...

There’s a skyline of Gaza that extends across all four images - coloring pencil on paper. The text reads “this drawing is based on photos of…

Gaza from early 2023. 92% of these homes

Have now been damaged or destroyed by the

Israeli military. Source: UN, April 2025

This is called domicide

How Do You Remember a Home Reduced to Rubble? Through interviews with survivors and satellite imagery, data journalist Mona Chalabi and SITU Research created models of razed houses in Gaza, Iraq, and Syria.

A museum installation in New York City combines journalism, oral history, art and architecture to pay an immensely personal tribute to homes destroyed in Palestine, Iraq and Syria by weapons manufactured in the United States.

Reported with Janine AlHadidi
@hyperallergic.com @monachalabi.bsky.social

How Do You Remember a Home Reduced to Rubble? Through interviews with survivors and satellite imagery, data journalist Mona Chalabi and SITU Research created models of razed houses in Gaza, Iraq, and Syria.

“You cannot erase memories,” said Mohammed Osman, whose home in Manbij, Syria, was destroyed in an airstrike by the US-led coalition in 2016. His former house is one of three homes modeled in “Patterns of Life,” Mona Chalabi’s exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt.

USYEM250417a – April 17, 2025 code: USYEM250417a incident_date: 2025-04-17 status: publish civilian_harm_status: Fair

3/ 📌The two deadliest U.S. civilian harm incidents in Yemen’s history occurred during Trump’s campaign. Strikes on Ras Isa Port and Saada Detention Prison allegedly killed at least 152 civilians and injured nearly 200 others

airwars.org/civilian-cas...

2/ 📌From 2002 to March 2025, Airwars tracked 258 civilians allegedly killed by U.S. strikes in Yemen.

In just eight weeks of Trump’s Operation Rough Rider, at least 224 people were killed - nearly doubling the civilian toll from U.S. actions in Yemen

Trump nearly doubled U.S. civilian casualty toll in Yemen | Airwars The Trump administration killed almost as many civilians in Yemen in 52 days as the previous 23 years of U.S. action

1/ NEW: As the U.S. appears on the brink of another war, Airwars reveals dangerous precedent for civilians set by Trump’s Yemen campaign

trump-yemen.airwars.org/operation-ro...

Senators challenge Hegseth on civilian deaths in Yemen strikes Democrats have demanded that the Trump administration account for rising loss of life from its intensified campaign against Iran-backed militants.

Getting rid of safeguards designed to limit civilian harm from U.S. military operations & ensure compliance with international humanitarian law undermines our credibility, jeopardizes our missions & raises the risk of natl security threats.

What the chats signal about Trump's bombing campaign in Yemen Everyone talked about the leaked Yemen attack plans. But who was killed in the strikes authorised?

1/ NEW: You read about the leaked Signal group between top U.S. national security leaders, but what happened in the strikes they authorised?

And what does this say about the new administration’s approach to warfare?

trump-yemen.airwars.org

"The term ‘excited delirium’ should just be gone forever."

Thankful John Oliver & @lastweektonight.com spotlight and condemn the pseudoscience of "excited delirium" & conflicts of interest from the manufacturers of Taser.

LWT cites PHR's seminal study on "excited delirium": phr.org/our-work/res...

⚠️ BUDGET DUE TODAY! KEEP CALLING TO BLOCK NEW YORK’S MASK BAN! Governor Hochul is still trying to force an anti-mask law into NY’s state budget – and the deadline is tonight. Our calls are working, but we’re not the only ones calling. We need to keep the pressure on and keep speaking up. Call to oppose mask bans TODAY, whether it’s your first time or a follow-up. Ask your friends to call too, especially if they’re upstate. TOOLKIT FOR CALLING YOUR STATE REPS: 📞 bit.ly/no-mask-ban (link in bio) Share this with 3 friends to grow our impact. Even a quick call makes a difference!

⚠️ NY's Budget is due TODAY! Our #NoNYMaskBan calls are working, but we’re not the only ones calling. We need to keep the pressure on. Call today, whether it’s your first time or a follow-up. Ask your friends to call, too, especially if they’re upstate.

YouTube video by LastWeekTonight Tasers & Excited Delirium: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

Here’s last night’s story about Tasers, whether they’re as safe and effective as the company that makes them, Axon, claims, and why you shouldn’t test one out on any of your family members. You’d think that goes without saying, but you’ll see that it really, really doesn’t. youtu.be/7Yd9nLQx3qQ

15 first responders killed in Rafah, U.N. says, as IDF orders mass evacuation Aid agencies say the workers were killed and buried in a mass grave in Rafah, in southern Gaza. Residents described being shot at along the evacuation route.

“They were killed in their uniforms. Driving their clearly marked vehicles. Wearing their gloves.
On their way to save lives”

15 first responders killed in Rafah, U.N. says, as IDF orders mass evacuation
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

Hegseth Cuts Pentagon Work on Preventing Civilian Harm Employees at the Pentagon’s Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response office were told their jobs would be eliminated, as would advisory posts at operational commands.

The offices developing policies, training, and assistance to combatant commanders to help reduce the harm to civilians during U.S. military operations will be eliminated by the secretary of defense www.nytimes.com/2025/03/04/u...

Pentagon moves to gut operations focused on reducing civilian harm Officials at the Defense Department’s Civilian Protection Center of Excellence, which seeks to limit collateral damage from military strikes against enemy combatants, were told to accept a buyout or b...

NEW: The Defense Department is moving to dismantle efforts focused on reducing civilian harm in U.S. military operations from @alexhorton.bsky.social, me and @danlamothe.bsky.social 🎁 wapo.st/4h6jH3M

“No Other Land” Is the Oscar-Nominated Film That No Studio Will Touch (Gift Article) “No Other Land,” about the destruction of a village in the occupied West Bank, is one of the year’s most acclaimed films. Still, U.S. studios are unwilling to distribute it.

My column this week is about NO OTHER LAND, a must-see Oscar nominee that every U.S. studio is too afraid to touch: www.nytimes.com/2025/02/19/m...

The Trump Administration's Attacks on International Law and Institutions: Public Statement of American Human Rights Experts, Current and Former Members of UN Bodies High-level US human rights experts express concern about the Trump administration's turn away from of international law and institutions.

[1/3] The Trump Administration’s Attacks on International Law and Institutions: Public Statement by 16 US Human Rights Experts, Current and Former Members of UN Bodies

www.justsecurity.org/107687/state...

Police use ‘excited delirium’ to explain in-custody deaths. It’s a debunked diagnosis The term “excited delirium” has been used as a diagnosis to describe people who die suddenly in police custody. But physicians and medical boards have long dismissed excited delirium as unscientific, ...

NEW: The words “excited delirium” came up multiple times during the trial over the in-custody death of an Indianapolis man having a mental health emergency. But experts say it’s a rejected medical diagnosis used by police to justify excessive force.
www.sideeffectspublicmedia.org/mental-healt...

Thank you to the many partners quoted in the article, including @airwars.bsky.social @deviatar.bsky.social @hrw.org

And to others who signed the letter, including @ceasefirecentre.bsky.social @cvtorg.bsky.social

Of the confirmed civilian harm incidents in Iraq, Syria, Somalia, and Yemen, just a handful of families have requested condolence payments.

They have waited a long time - but have not given up.

Organizations like mine are eager to support efforts to make this happen.

Both families have requested condolence payments from the US military.

The Department of Defense receives $3 million/year from Congress to make payments for civilian death & injury.

A group of NGOs, including Zomia, has sent the Secetary of Defense a letter describing this as part of his legacy.

Professor Ziad Khalaf Awad was killed in an April 2016 U.S. airstrike in Mosul.

His wife Maha Khalil Ali says, "We want to pursue this case so it could be a message that they should not underestimate the lives of the innocent, civilian people."

llyas Ali Abd Ali lost a leg and hearing in one ear in a U.S. airstrike in Mosul, Iraq in 2016.

He can no longer work.

"My two daughters are praying every single day that there would be a solution, that there will be finally a light at the end of this dark tunnel," he says.

Pentagon urged to make payments for slain, injured civilians Groups have appealed to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to address a backlog of civilian casualty claims before the Biden administration leaves office.

Thank you @megkelly.bsky.social @washingtonpost.com for reporting on the struggles of civilians harmed in US operations.

These include 2 families represented by the Zomia Center whose stories were first covered in 2021 by @azmatzahra.bsky.social @nytimes.com

www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Pentagon urged to make payments for slain, injured civilians Groups have appealed to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to address a backlog of civilian casualty claims before the Biden administration leaves office.

“They lost homes, limbs and loved ones,” an attorney for several families said.

16 rights orgs urged Secretary of Defense to authorize condolence payments to families of civilians killed or injured in U.S. operations per a letter obtained by the Post.

www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...